____ _____________ ___________ _____
____\ |_\_ | _ _ |_\_ | _ | _ |__________ _ _ ___
| _ | _ | | | | _ | | | | |-| _ | | ______\ | /___
| | | | | | | | | |____ | ___| | | | |-| \ |zZ! /___
l______|_____|__|-|__|_____|__/__|___\___|_|_|___|_ ___________ ___________
| _ | _ | |-| | ___/_ | | _ \_ __/_|_ _ | \_
D a m a g e , I N C .| | | | | | | |___ | | | | | \_ _/ | | |__/
| | | ___| | | | | | |--| ___| | | ___| |
N e w s l e t t e r |__|__|___\ |_______|_____|_____|___\ |__|__|___\ |__|
Volume 2, Issue #19
(Released: 01/01/01)
"Propagandize."
http://surf.to/damage_inc
damage_inc@disinfo.net
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C O N T E N T S :
> INTRODUCTION - An Introduction to the Damage, INC. Newsletter.
> ADVISORIES - Rolling the dice: Hacker tracking and you.
% Search String: {ADVISORIES}
> BIG BROTHER BASHING - FBI's Carnivore devours online privacy.
% Search String: {BIG BROTHER}
> CONSPIRACIES AND COVERUPS - N/A in this issue. Shout "conspiracy!"
% Search String: {COVERUPS}
> CORRUPTION AND GREED - Politics As Usual.
% Search String: {GREED}
> CROSSED WIRES - cDc Global Domination Update PR for your viewing pleasure.
% Search String: {WIRES}
> DAMAGE, INC. REVIEWS - Snapshot of things we currently follow/read.
% Search String: {REVIEWS}
> DRUGSTORE COWBOYS - Got drug propaganda? Trip on this.
% Search String: {DRUGS}
> H/P INF0 - Bringin' back the old sk00l and hittin' hard with it.
% Search String: {H/P}
> INTERVIEWS & INTERROGATIONS - An interview with Grandmaster Ratte' (cDc)
% Search String: {INTERVIEWS}
> NEWS FROM THE TRENCHES - Damage, INC. updates, news dispatches and more.
% Search String: {NEWS}
> OBJECTIVE OPINIONS - Hacker Culture, The Propaganda Machine Rolls On, etc.
% Search String: {OPINIONS}
> REPORTS FROM THE FRONT - Propaganda reports delivered directly to your screen.
% Search String: {REPORTS}
> THOUGHTS, POEMS AND CREATIVE WRITING - Crazy, entropic rants & writings.
% Search String: {WRITING}
> CLOSING COMMENTS - Final propagandistic material for this issue.
% Search String: {CLOSING}
===============================================================================
< DISCLAIMER >
All articles contained in the Damage, INC. Newsletter are for informational
purposes only. Damage, INC. is not responsible for how any of the information
presented is used. It is not intended to be a manual with instructions to be
followed. We won't be held responsible for any damages caused, illegal and
fraudulent acts committed, etc. by our readers. If/how you use the information
included herein is entirely up to you.
< COPYRIGHT NOTICE >
All articles and source code contained within this file are (C) Copyright by
Damage, INC. (unless stated otherwise). No part of this work can be modified,
reproduced or changed in any way without the expressed written consent of
Damage, INC. That means, electronically or otherwise, in part or in whole
this file must not be altered. It cannot be distributed and sold for profit.
You cannot claim that you wrote it, or alter any articles and source code that
has been written and Copyrighted by us. Also, you must *not* distribute any
Damage, INC. releases in "packages" with other text files or utilities. They
must only be distributed alone in their present, original form. You are hereby
permitted to read and distribute the Damage, INC. Newsletter freely to quality
h/p boards and sites only.
Copyright 2001 by Damage, INC.
All Rights Reserved.
===============================================================================
INTRODUCTION:
This is the dawn of a whole new era. Imagine a universe converging on another
universe and witnessing that as we travel around the sun at over 66,000 mph
on our tiny blue planet. Picture technology merging flawlessly with hacking,
hacker culture, and expressed in words. Technology is information. Think of
that. Think about the possibilities and conveniences that technology affords
you for a minute. Think about what living without any advanced technology at
your disposal would be like. Would you be able to adapt? Would you survive?
Would you be more, or less happy than you are right at this very moment? Flash
freeze that image in your mind. Then fast forward to the future. Think of what
technology *might* be like a decade or more from now... With such very rapid
advancements, you may not even be able to do that. You may not be able to
predict or theorize about it. It might be beyond what you can currently
imagine. Still, use your imagination. What types of problems will arise due
to new technology being used, misused and abused? What potential hazards
could there be because of it? How could technology be used against you? And
how could it be used for your benefit, to your own advantage? These are some
of the questions you should ask yourself. These are some of the things that
you should think about and consider from time to time.
As for hackers and technology, how will the culture evolve? What will the
h/p scene be like decades from now? How will hacking change? How will security
change and evolve? How will privacy issues change? How will the government use
technology in the future? How will private companies use it? What will they do
with the information they've gathered? And how will all of it affect you?
Obviously these are only rhetorical questions. They are huge, and well beyond
the scope of this zine. Nevertheless, they should still be asked and thought
about. Ignoring them only serves to bury your head in the sand and pretend
that technology isn't changing the world. The fact still remains that it is,
and it will continue to do so. It's better to be aware and somewhat prepared,
than to simply walk in blind and ignorant.
The same goes for security. Complacency and a false sense of security are the
main ingredients in a recipe for disaster. If you think your security is
infallible, without even testing it, monitoring it, updating it and shoring it
up with patches against new exploits that are known, you'll be done in
eventually. It's only a matter of time.
When the planets collide... think of the sound they'll emit. Think of the
tremendous energy they'll disperse. Think of what will be destroyed and what
will be created in the process. The same goes for technology. The same rules
apply as when planets collide. In this new Millennium, technology is being
created, advanced and moving at the speed of light. It's like no other time
in history. But it isn't all good. Monumental problems and issues of privacy
are arising by the millisecond. People need to be consciously aware of how
technology is affecting them in their daily lives. They need to know what's
happening behind their screen, behind the scenes. As in, who's keeping track
of their activities, who has their information, how many databases are they
in, and how easily can their personal profiles be assembled, bought, sold,
obtained through deceptive and illegal means, etc. These issues are complex
and must be examined on an ongoing basis. Technology can be a great benefit.
But it can also be a huge threat and a powerful weapon in the control of large
corporations, government and other agencies. Big Brother isn't just a mythical
entity. It's here. It lives. It breathes. It exists. Don't choose to ignore
it. Don't just turn a blind eye. Don't be influenced and brainwashed.
Propagandize don't criticize. Choose dictators from history to diefy and
lionize. Fire up the propaganda machine, recruit and mobilize. Once the spin
starts rolling, and you have them where you want them, labotamize. Take their
minds and brutalize. Influence and brainwash until they respect and see you as
wise. Change their ethics and beliefs and cut them all down to size. Make the
masses into zombies slaves under the banner of America, and Americanize.
Exploit them to death and capitalize. Then use all of that to your advantage
so you can commercialize further and profitize! Go on now, propagandize.
Enough ranting. Let the mind games and propaganda begin. Come with it now...
ADVISORIES - {ADVISORIES}
Rolling the dice: Hacker tracking and you.
You feelin' lucky punk? Okay, so you aren't all little know nothing script
kiddies armed with port scanners, exploits, filled with malcontent, rage and
a desire to go out and get your kicks breaking into systems without forethought.
However, I'm positive that at least *some* of you are. And this article was
written with you in mind. The intention of it was to prevent you from doing
something stupid, without first considering the consequences. You can consider
this to be a warning of sorts, or a "STOP... THINK FIRST BEFORE PROCEEDING"
primer. At any rate, it isn't a technical advisory. You won't find k00l new
scripts and exploits in here to use. What you will find however, is an article
explaining ways to avoid being traced. Along with that, there's some commentary
on what's going on in the scene, with hackers (or "former" hackers) being hired
to track other hackers that've accessed sensitive systems and data. Take it
for what it is. The majority of it is just common sense. But I felt that
Damage, INC. might as well put it out there, for clueless kids that are fucking
around with shit they don't know about, and getting caught. Yes, that's still
happening on a great scale. So, if you fit into that category and don't want
to get busted needlessly for something, when it could've been avoided, read on.
The importance of logs:
Regardless of the system you're exploring, no matter what OS it's running, or
how you got in, or the level of access you've managed to acquire on it, the
log files are still extremely important. It's actually sickening to read about
a kid being busted, or see an interview of them, and they say "I wasn't careful
at all. I didn't think to edit/remove the log files. I used no stealth. I
didn't have to get traced and caught. I could've avoided it." or something
along those lines. If they had the knowledge and ability to avoid it, why the
fuck did they leave the logs untouched? Did they simply forget, and leave them
there, unmodified, in their haste? That's more than a serious error. That is
inexcusable.
The moral is kids, IP scanners and port scanner, and r00t kits... and all of
your thousands of exploits you've collected... mean literally shit if you get
in and forget to do anything with the log files. Ya dig?
Location:
It's the same in hacking as with real estate. Location, location, location.
Say that a few times. Scream it aloud. Hypothetically, why break into say...
a NASA server, or a .mil system from home using your desktop system and
dialup/cable/DSL connection? Why? Why launch anything from your box that's
sitting in your own home? Once again, why? And for that matter, why use your
own account, with your IP address (not through any proxy servers, totally
unspoofed)? Why?
All too often the media gets a nice juicy story about how a "kid hacker" was
caught breaking into a high profile system, downloading data from it, or
launching a DDoS attack... or spreading a virus... or whatever... and they
did it from home, using their own dialup Internet account and their phone line.
Are they just begging to be traced? You don't have to hire a fucking expert
to track you down if you're gonna be that inept, incompetent and stupid.
Instead of pulling shit like a punk, why not grab a laptop, go to a payphone
with a jack, or hookup to a junction box or something... have other accounts
with you to use, and still take all the necessary precautions (so that it's
difficult to trace the connection back to your area code, let alone you and
your address/phone line) You've heard of field phreaking, right? Well, when
it comes to high profile systems, *don't* fuck with them from home. Get your
little field hacking kit together... and go.
Stealth:
In simple terms, the objective of stealth, is to make yourself as anonymous
and transparent as possible. You've heard of stealth firewalls right?
Essentially, it makes ports invisible... so it's like they don't exist or
your system isn't online or powered on.
Stealth encompasses so many things. It extends from your name, location;
meaning an address, phone number, and any other identifiable things, to your
connection... along with all that goes with it. Simply put, your system itself
can betray you, and give away valuable packets of information which can be
used against you. Covering these traces of info, or eliminating them entirely
wherever possible, helps your goal of preventing being tracked. This is what
stealth is all about. There are many ways of accomplishing this goal, but,
it is beyond the scope of this short article. Maybe I'll explain a few ways
in a future article.
Stealth also includes things such as not making your actions known by means
of telling others about them. And, anything that can be considered or construed
as evidence against you, should be well hidden elsewhere at another location
or destroyed if not needed. Trophies can get you jail time. So, safely secure
your incriminating data.
Closing:
Yes, it's a rush. You can get a thrill out of being somewhere you're "not
supposed to be". Unauthorized areas of anything (not just systems) can be fun
to explore. And, it's understandable that a lot of kids get their kicks from
doing it. However, think of the consequences. Don't let it come as a surprise
that they exist. Playing dumb won't work. Excuses won't work. You can't
social engineer the feds out of serving an arrest warrant. You can't social
engineer judges in court. Trust me, it doesn't work that way kids.
In conclusion, it's up to you what you do, what precautions and chances you
take. If you want to roll the dice, and end up having to go through a bust
situation with criminal charges laid on ya by the feds, by all means, ignore
all of this. And ignore anything else that you've ever read about how to
avoid being traced. Don't even consider trying to make yourself as stealthy
and anonymous as possible. If you want to play Russian roulette with a loaded
pistol (not revolver), start pulling the trigger kid. If you want to have a
Mexican standoff with the feds... be my guest. It won't make you any cooler.
Won't give you a big rep. You'll get your 15 mins of fame out of it, sure.
After that though, you're still in jail and relatively unknown and forgotten.
And you have a record for life. If you have no real skills, you're fucked when
you get released. Is it worth it? If you fuck up, that's what it's like.
Think about it. Prepare. Be aware. Be stealthy, logical, methodical. Plan
things well ahead of time. If you're setting things up, double check it. Test
it on systems of far less importance. Consult someone you trust and seek
advice. Think about what might go wrong ahead of time, instead of after the
fact. You don't want to be sitting in a cell, serving time, saying "Damn, I
wish I would've done this... or hadn't forgotten to do that..."
As if it isn't obvious already, this is serious now. You may think exploring
someone's system, reading and downloading data files isn't illegal. You may
decide to be lax in your measures due to that thinking. Well, that logic isn't
just flawed, it's totally fucked. In case you haven't realized it yet, if
you play around on any sensitive systems, they will try to pursue you no matter
what. You can break into U.S. systems from England, and they'll try and track
you and hunt you down. Yes, that's a fact. You don't have to use or sell any
of the information you take either. Hell, you don't have to take a single
1 byte file. Once inside, it doesn't matter what you do. If you leave a trace,
that's grounds for them to go after you. Think first, then act if you think
the benefits outweigh the risk.
Written by THC Phreak / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
BIG BROTHER BASHING - {BIG BROTHER}
FBI's Carnivore devours online privacy.
In its heavy-handed efforts to wage war against crime, the FBI has unleashed
another privacy killing weapon upon "thought criminals" that "threaten" the
United States of America. Despite an extensive arsenal of electronic
surveillance systems and techniques, the FBI deemed it necessary to create
the software program known as "Carnivore." The official purpose of Carnivore is
so the FBI can conduct electronic surveillance of email and Internet
communications at an Internet service provider (ISP) facilities in order to
fulfill "legal court orders." In other words, Carnivore is the FBI's primary
Internet wiretap.
The FBI stated that Carnivore is needed in order to "provide jurors an
opportunity to determine factual issues based upon a defendant's own words."
Who are examples of suspects that the FBI would use Carnivore to eavesdrop on?
FBI Assistant Director Donald M. Kerr answered that question at a House
Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution: "Criminals use computers to send
child pornography to each other using anonymous, encrypted communications."
"Hackers break into financial service companies' systems and steal customers'
home addresses and credit-card numbers, criminals use the Internet's inexpensive
and easy communications to commit large-scale fraud on victims all over the
world, and terrorist bombers plan their strikes using the Internet." It makes
me sick to see that the FBI Assistant Director places hackers akin to the
perverts, fraudsters and terrorists that he mentions. However, it isn't
surprising to get that kind of fucked up rhetoric from the Thought Police. The
FBI violates the privacy of innocent citizens far more brutally than hackers
could ever desire to.
The FBI has been very cautious not to reveal many details about how Carnivore
works. Briefs regarding Carnivore that have been sent to the Department of
Justice and the White House staff have been classified. The FBI is concerned
that publicly revealing certain weaknesses or other technical information may
allow hackers to defeat Carnivore. What they did reveal on their web site
is a very basic description of how they claim Carnivore works, which I have
imported below:
"The FBI connects a commercially available one-way tapping device at the
ISP's access point. This tap produces an exact copy of all data at the access
point. The tap also provides electrical isolation to prevent Carnivore from
having any kind of impact on the ISP's network. The copied network traffic
then flows into the collection system where it is compared against a predefined
filter. This filter only passes traffic authorized for capture by the court
order. Traffic that passes through the filter continues on to be archived to
permanent storage media. No other data is ever stored to permanent media, nor
is any information recorded about traffic that does not match the filters. All
information collected is maintained and, in the case of full content
interceptions, is sealed under the order of the court. This information, as
well as information obtained pursuant to pen register and trap & trace
authorities may subsequently be made available by the court to the defendant."
"[Carnivore] provides the FBI with a unique ability to distinguish between
communications which may be lawfully intercepted and those which may not.
For example, if a court order provides for the lawful interception of one type
of communication (e.g., e-mail), but excludes all other communications (e.g.,
online shopping) the Carnivore tool can be configured to intercept only those
e-mails being transmitted either to or from the named subject. Carnivore
serves to limit the messages viewable by human eyes to those which are strictly
included within the court order."
If the FBI told the truth above, they would have us believe that Carnivore is a
sophisticated filtering program that agents would use to view Internet traffic
that only pertains to the court order in their possession. If this isn't
disinformation, I still have a definite problem with the fact that all ISP
traffic is at the fingertips of the Thought Police. In the past, there have
been confirmed reports of wiretap abuses by the FBI. However, instead of
performing wiretaps in violation of the 4th Amendment on a small number of phone
lines per search warrant, the FBI agents would have access to all of the traffic
on an ISP. In my opinion, it would be the equivalent of allowing the FBI to
have instant and convenient access to every single conversation on several huge
trunks. Then a filter in the earpiece and the agent would be told, "OK, you
have the ability to listen to any conversation on a trunk full of phone lines,
but you have to use this earpiece filter to only listen in on the little line
that pertains to your court order." However, it is also possible that the FBI
is overstating the abilities of Carnivore. It is uncertain if the FBI has the
ability to write something that could capture and scan so much data without
bogging down an ISP.
Regardless of Carnivore's true nature, it all comes down to trusting the FBI,
and the agent using Carnivore. It is the corrupt FBI agent that would violate
the privacy rights of an innocent person. There have been enough reported
privacy abuses, that the FBI should not be blindly trusted with such tools.
After researching the FBI's long track record of civil privacy rights abuses, I
firmly believe that they should not have tools such Carnivore available to them.
Big Brother and the Thought Police cannot be trusted.
ISP owners also have concerns with being forced to allow the installation of
equipment and software onto their systems without knowing the full nature of how
it works, or what it is doing to their system (performance and security
concerns). Some want the FBI to publish information on the software used so
that ISPs can be sure that it does what the agency says.
Also, several civil rights groups, including the ACLU (American Civil Liberties
Union), have expressed grave concerns about Carnivore. Most of their concerns
relate to the fact that the FBI is unwilling to give any substantial detail as
to exactly how Carnivore operates. In fact, the ACLU has requested that the
FBI surrender Carnivore's source code so that it can be analyzed. FBI has
flatly refused to honour the requests of any of the civil liberties groups.
The FBI may be able to ignore organizations like the ACLU, but they were
surprised by the concerns of some U.S. Congressmen. "The potential for abuse
here is tremendous," said Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.). "What you're [The
FBI's] saying is 'Trust us.'" The toughest questioning came from Reps. Jerrold
Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Robert L. Barr Jr. (R-Ga.). Nadler peppered the officials
with a series of questions that underscored the point that Carnivore, under the
laws that govern pen-register surveillance, could be used without the difficult
showing of "probable cause" required in a telephone wiretap. After the hearing,
House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey issued a statement saying members of both
parties showed "strong concerns that the administration is infringing on
Americans' basic constitutional protection against unwarranted search and
seizure. "We should be sensitive to any potential for abuse," said Florida
Representative Charles Canady, the panel's chairman. "Even a system designed
with the best of intentions to legally carry out essential law enforcement
functions may be a cause for concern if its use is not properly monitored."
The stunned FBI replied that their agents have too much integrity, and would
risk their careers if they used Carnivore outside the scope of their search
warrant. In fact, most of the information regarding Carnivore on the FBI's web
site is dedicated to defending the "integrity" of their tarnished law
enforcement organization. I'll let you read their weak reasons why Carnivore
doesn't threaten innocent Internet users' right to privacy:
"The use of the Carnivore system by the FBI is subject to intense oversight
from internal FBI controls, the U. S. Department of Justice (both at a
Headquarters level and at a U.S. Attorney's Office level), and by the Court.
There are significant penalties for misuse of the tool, including exclusion of
evidence, as well as criminal and civil penalties. The system is not
susceptible to abuse because it requires expertise to install and operate, and
such operations are conducted, as required in the court orders, with close
cooperation with the ISPs. The FBI is sharing information regarding Carnivore
with industry at this time to assist them in their efforts to develop open
standards for complying with wiretap requirements. The FBI did at the request
of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) Implementation
Section, at an industry standards meeting (the Joint Experts Meeting) which was
set up in response to an FCC suggestion to develop standards for Internet
interception."
The FBI's infamous arrogance is very apparent. Their agents, which have gotten
off free, or with mild slaps on the wrist for prior wiretap abuses, will be kept
in line by the idle threat of losing evidence, or jail time. Meanwhile, they
also say that Carnivore is too complicated for anyone outside of the FBI to
comprehend and operate. All that tells me is the only thing protecting innocent
users' privacy is internal investigations (meanwhile the FBI has not mentioned
if Carnivore logs or does and audit of the agent's actions) and their assumption
that people outside the FBI are too ignorant and stupid to use their system for
their own purposes. Again, the message of "trust us, we won't abuse your
privacy even though we need the ability to do it" is the only safeguard the
FBI deems necessary.
Despite all of the criticism and concerns from prominent groups and politicians,
as well as individual citizens, Carnivore still continues to function the same
way since its inception. The only changes proposed are cosmetic changes to
Carnivore's interface. The FBI is making sure that "accidental" abuses of
privacy due to user input errors are eliminated by adding a few more caution
screens. While this may make Congress feel more at ease, all it does is adds
a few mouse clicks for the privacy abusing agent. The fact that no external
auditing of the FBI's actions was not mentioned in any of the press releases
and panel transcripts that I had access to troubles me. This is absolutely
wrong. No one is watching the Thought Police, but the Thought Police
themselves. Again, I must say that the FBI, or any other government
bureaucracy, cannot be trusted. They are incapable of policing themselves.
Why? They'll be too busy watching what individuals are doing on the Internet to
worry about policing privacy abuses by FBI agents using tools such as Carnivore.
Written by Shatazar / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
RIP personal privacy of UK Internet users?
"Government is too secretive. Too many decisions are taken behind closed doors
without proper consultation with the public. Government then rushes new laws
through Parliament and bad legislation is passed. People want to be better
informed about what government is up to, and be consulted more." --- Jack Straw
Home Secretary to Her Majesties Government.
First impressions to many of the h/p scene is that it is childish and damaging
and there it ends for many who choose to remain ignorant. The second impression
for those who are more open minded is that for some it is a means of attaining
knowledge that has been purposely hidden from sight of the public. Even
government officials admit they are too secretive in their decision making.
So what if the government wanted to play at h/p, what if they wanted to know
what was happening on the Internet within the UK or your home nation? And more
importantly what the hell am I talking about? The Regulation Of Investigatory
Powers (RIP) Bill and it's publicly reported purpose to combat the increasing
problem of crimes committed online, mainly child pornography, fraud, terrorism
and drug trafficking.
The government already has powers to eavesdrop telephonic communications via
listening stations such as Government Communications Headquarters
(http://www.gchq.org.uk) and the NSA's Menwith Hill (http://www.menwithhill.com)
Time to learn a new acronym GTAC or Government Technical Assistance Centre.
Remember Jack Straw that I quoted earlier? He's the guy who issues the warrants
to security agencies to intercept telephone and postal communications and will
be doing the same for GTAC and online traffic. The RIP Bill that will allow this
to happen was secretively being rushed into legislation behind closed doors to
meet a 1st October 2000 deadline. It was passed in July and will be implemented
on 5th October.
As new legislation the RIP Bill will be costly both to personal privacy and
economics. It was economic cost that saved personal privacy from surveillance
legislation for the Internet before when the Electronic Commerce bill contained
similar proposals (was altered and passed as law June 2000). Who was it that
saved us at the last minute? Big business is who. As we all know multinational
corporate entities don't like all their activities to be monitored too closely.
Don't relay on them to bail us out again, do something. The cost of the
proposed RIP Bill runs into millions of private and public money. The GTEC
extension to MI5 (http://www.mi5.gov.uk) set up by the National Criminal
Intelligence Service (NCIS) will cost œ25 million in tax payers money (unless
MI5 decides to run a CIA style fundraiser, and we ain't talking yard sales or
girl guide cookies). ISP's are expected to cough up between œ44,700 to œ113,300
in cost for the first year and œ19,000 thereafter, which will get passed on to
their subscribers. This cost to ISP's is for the interception capabilities to
be integrated into their system that they will be required by the RIP Bill to
install. With 400+ ISP's in the UK that totals between œ17.88 million and
œ45.32 million.
Charles Clarke MP, who is responsible for pushing the RIP Bill through the House
of Commons, has been noted to say that he "...wants to make the UK the best
place in the world to do electronic business". Strange thing to say considering
the bill he is responsible for is making UK ISP's and e-commerce business'
consider migrating their operations to neighboring countries like France and
the Irish Republic who are a little more friendlier. Among these are Poptel,
UUnet, Claranet and GreenNet.
The RIP Bill requires a warrant to read online traffic, but communications data
will not require a warrant. Communications data include things like your e-mail
address book and website logs. So any public authorities from Department of
Social Security and Health Service to local authorities and so on can have
access to see who you e-mail and what material you browse.
Part 3 of the RIP Bill gets a little more interesting and concerns the
disclosure of decryption keys. This requires the police to obtain a warrant
from a judge. The police can request a warrant on the grounds of "for the
purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime". I'll just run that by you
again in slow motion "for the purpose of...detecting serious crime", not if
there is a serious crime, no need for crime at all just detecting serious crime
is enough. The bill doesn't stop there and neither am I. As we read further
into the RIP Bill failure to comply to the warrant is a maximum of two years
imprisonment. Don't bother telling anyone you've been served with a warrant
because that will earn you an extra three years. Failure to produce decryption
keys also means you are presumed guilty until you prove yourself to not be in
possession of the means to obtain the decryption keys. An interesting twist to
the law to be guilty until proved innocent. Did I mention that the government
could hold onto the decryption keys as long as it likes once it has obtained
them? Well it can under this new bill. A personal thought what of online
traffic that somebody in New York retrieves from a server in Paris? Will that be
monitored and logged if it passes through the UK? If it doesn't fall into the
bounds of the RIP bill and GCHQ ignores it I am confident that Menwith Hill may
keep an eye on it.
A bill similar to the RIP bill has already been passed as law in the
Netherlands. Here is why it exists according to Jason Thomas of PC Plus
magazine. "[Proposals] in the RIP Bill first appeared in the Electronic
Communications Bill. They resulted from last year's European Parliament
resolution calling for interception at ISP level. This in turn came from a
resolution from the Lawful Interception of Communications council
(Enfopol)...looking even further back the Enfopol documents were inspired by a
series of secret meetings between various international law enforcement
agencies. They were called the International Law Enforcement Telecommunications
Seminars (ILETS) and met without parliamentary knowledge or government
supervision. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigations was the
initiating body, and the measures ELTIS [I think that should read ILETS] agreed
became the basis of Enfopol documents, which ultimately have dictated UK
government policy. So it seems a group of unaccountable individuals from
various security services have dictated European and UK policy."
What effect does this have on those it is intended to imprison? If you're a
terrorist or the accountant for a drug cartel conveniently loosing the
decryption key offers a shorter prison sentence than your real crimes. The bill
is not going to work effectively against the serious criminals it is supposed to
protect the unknowing public from, a public that is suspicious of the
governments intentions. The bill is flawed and can be worked around. The bill
does not have power over direct modem to modem connections but this would
probably be under the jurisdiction of GCHQ. For a $10,000 set-up fee and $1,500
a month you can have your web services run from a platform a few miles off the
Felixstowe coast (http://www.sealandgov.com and http://www.havenco.com). The
Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise insist that these platforms still come
under UK law. It is uncertain if the bill applies to information stored in
other countries but as Casper Bowden (Director of Foundation for Information
Policy Research) said, "By analogy, you are no longer talking about whether
someone has the key to a safe, the question is whether they even have a safe."
By using a free archiving service like xdrive (http://www.xdrive.com) or
Netstore (http://www.netstore.com) from public Internet access points in
combination with steganography. For those who are unsure steganography is the
concealment of information within images and sound files by using unused bits
and inaudible frequencies. The RIP bill will insist you reveal the
steganographicly hidden data but they got to know it exists first. This offers
some protection; the hidden data has to be known to exist, so keep an eye on the
information your browser leaves behind, as a warrant is not need to seize it.
Some now believe that by forcing criminals to find workarounds it is encouraging
them to use the Internet as a world wide safety deposit box.
Things to do if you disagree with the RIP bill, one mail your MP, chances are
your MP is not fully aware of what the RIP Bill means. And don't be insulting or
patronizing this will not help. Not many people have faith in their MP so go to
step two. It is believed that GCHQ and Menwith Hill already go out of their way
to intercept PGP signed and/or encrypted e-mails, so send as many as you can,
I'm sure they would love the over time. I am sure there is more that can be
done, be creative in your protest not destructive.
The Internet is not a birthright and no matter how many people take it and it's
freedoms for granted it is a privilege and one worth protecting. In the main
the Internet is self-regulating and self-repairing and will remain so if users
are trusted to take responsibility for their own data and connections. The
Internet is a vast entity, Damage Inc. only takes responsibility of this part,
cross it's and others borders of your own free will.
All information is believed to be correct at the time of writing but for up to
date information visit http://www.stand.org.uk
Written by Alfie Ilkins.
The HRDC Big Brother Database Secrets Revealed.
Look for an article on Human Resources Development Canada... and the ongoing
saga that is our relationship, with infrequent correspondence by mail and
bureaucracy from hell... in the next issue (hopefully). However, I can't
guarantee anything as the Canadian government's response time is so utterly
slow, it's deplorable. But, at this juncture, it's *their* turn to wait for
my reply to the latest offering in govspeak that they've sent by mail. So,
in a sense, they're anxiously awaiting my response to their last letter... and
I can imagine a bureaucrat sitting there impatiently, eager to receive word
from this dissident in arms. Rest assured, the article will contain some
*hilarious* quotes from government officials. Things so damn funny, we couldn't
have produced and fabricated something of equal humour. If you want to meet
some truly amusing people, hang around government buildings, be social and
strike up conversations with low level zombies employed as gophers and paper
pushers... They'll feed you more material than you can ever imagine.
To hold you until the article arrives, I'll give you one direct quote...
"Human Resources Development Canada Longitudinal *WHAAAAAAT*???" - the response
given to me when I made a formal request to see a copy of my file, while
standing face to face with a government worker at the local HRDC office. That's
right, she didn't have a clue what I was requesting, even though the faction of
government she is employed by was responsible for creating and maintaining that
specific database and files on every Canadian citizen. Either she feigned
ignorance extremely well, or she simply was that ignorant.
CORRUPTION AND GREED - {GREED}
Politics As Usual.
Bush and Dick. Bore and Lieberman. What about Bob (Dole)? Where's Ralph?
Hey, there's a Pat (Buchanan) too! And for the love of phreaks, will someone
please call Ross Perot and ask for his endorsement? That pint sized, midget
mouthpiece that always pretends he can't get a word in edgewise is alright in
my book. "Larry, can I talk? Can I say somethin' now?" - Perot on CNN's Larry
King show. Hell, at least Perot has the statistics to prove *anything*. :)
Whatever happened to Donald Trump? Or, how about Steve Forbes? I say they
should bring those bastards back into the running. Bring em back into the
mix. And anyone else with money to burn that wants a piece of the action!
Plus, America *needs* preacher Gore. You know, the flamboyant, over the top,
in your face Gore. The one that rants on stage like an old sk00l style Baptist
preacher straight outta the early 1920s. The one with hair flying wildly in
the wind, shirt buttons undone and tie loosened so it can flip flop around.
The one with charisma and energy. The one that stands defiantly on stage and
angrily screams "I'll fight for you!" at onlookers that've been carefully
selected out of his most ardent supporters. That Gore. You know who I mean
now? Preacher Gore! Ah yes, the many faces of Gore... But that's my personal
favorite of all his personae, by far.
Seriously folks, how many of you voted? How many of you thought it would make
any difference? How many voted for Ralph Nader? How many thought the election
results would be so close, and the Presidential race relying on recounted votes
in Florida? Did you hear the word "chad" (dimpled, pregnant, dented, hanging,
and fucked) used enough by the media? Did you enjoy the media's television
coverage on election night? Wasn't that something to behold. Predictions
abounded. Egg was on face, everywhere! Egg and cheese omelets for all. Crow
pie by the truckload. It was a virtual feast for the media and masses. More
than just watching the usual election coverage, it was time to chow down at
2am EST. Wasn't it great?
"We're calling Florida for Gore. No, it's too close to call... Wait, Bush is
now the unofficial President elect. Uhhhh... hold on folks. We have egg on
our face again. Mix up a few more omelets for our nice shiny suits. We're
gonna need it by nights end."
Watching the news anchors getting flustered and frustrated was just hilarious.
New Suit: $2,000
Imported Coffee: $500
Haircut: $150
Fucking up Presidential Election 2000: Priceless
Oh hell yeah. All apologies MasterCard. But, that's our attempt at parody.
As if all the comedy shows haven't already used your advertising campaign in
parodies to death already anyway. So get over it.
Politics as usual simply means a lack of real choices in political figures
(or figureheads), and the same old partisan, political bullshit. This isn't
about fairness. It isn't about "having every vote counted" as Gore repeated
for so long ad nausea until everyone was sick of hearing it. Granted, it was
very close in Florida. Still, let's face it, he just wanted to be the next
President. It was all about winning. And he was willing to use his spin
machine to try to get into the White House, no matter what it took. So, fuck
it.
Not that Bush and Dick are any better. Kids, with George W. Bush you have
reason to live by the words, "PHEAR THE BEAVER!"... because our leader is a
babbling idiot that can't string two words together to save his life. And he
knows nothing about foreign policy, as well as many other things. Having a
daddy that was President is more than a foot in the door, sort of speak. Having
a brother who's Governor of Florida doesn't hurt either. Affluence and
influence.
All I want to know is, who the hell voted for Ralph Nader? Stand up and be
counted! C'mon, some of you must have...
The whole process is fucked. The entire thing is nothing more than a fucking
joke. Most people are completely indifferent. They don't give a shit who is
their president, as long as they can make a few bills on the stock market and
buy the new SUV they've been eyeing. America is fucked. Americans are only
concerned with themselves and their own personal wealth.
A country divided? Obviously. What an astute observation that is, on the part
of the good ol' reliable mass media. Political commentary at its best, 24 hours
a day if you want it. I mean, out of 100 million people that voted, it was
about as close to a 50/50 split as you're ever gonna see. And so, it all came
down to people holding up ballots to the light to look for punched out chads,
and make decisions on how people voted. Well, it could've gone down to a coin
toss. No word of a lie. That was a distinct possibility! That's our "system"
at work...
Now what? It's over. Live with it. Take it. Be indifferent. Not that I
expect this article to actually change anything. The vast majority of Americans
are indifferent and complacent. Mobilizing the people that aren't is damn near
impossible. And there's a huge shortage of true leaders on top of it all.
Well, at least ones with charisma. No offense Ralph, but you don't cut it.
Putting your politics aside for the moment, you lack the qualities that a true
leader needs in order to inspire people and create a real, long lasting,
effective movement. Someone that with their mere words, can make the rich fat
cats do more than stand up and take notice, but rather, have unexpected bowel
movements, is what is needed. And that someone isn't Ralph Nader. As fun
loving and lovable as he is, and as much as he appeals to a certain group of
college kids, he isn't the man for the job. In politics, your ideas and your
heart being in the right place aren't nearly enough. You've gotta have much
more than that. You've gotta have style and flash and a way to wake people up
and get them all jacked up about the issues. So, with that being said, I wish
Nader and the Green Party all the luck in the world.
As I mentioned earlier, the system is corrupt. It's filled with greed and
deception. Politicians are bought and sold. Special interest groups pay for
the elections, for the most part, through political donations. Yes, reform is
needed. But, *real* reform, not more bureaucracy meant to fool the masses into
thinking everything has been changed and fixed. As it stands now, it's about
"stuff my pockets and i'll fill yours." Yes, that's immoral and unethical.
But that's reality. Obviously you aren't reading this to be shielded from the
truth and influenced by spin. So, we'll give it to you straight. Things aren't
going to change until the control is taken out of the hands of the special
interest groups and huge corporations and put into the hands of the people.
Yes, I'm stating the obvious. This won't be accomplished through the Republican
and Democrat parties. Voting for the "lesser of the two evils" won't help
matters at all. Being indifferent to it won't change it. Opposing it, but
being complacent won't either.
What's needed is a voice of change. This country needs a powerful voice to
speak on behalf of the people. Change is desperately needed, but it'll never
happen if we just leave it in the hands of our current "leaders", and assume
they'll get the job don't. They won't. They lack the necessary power to do
it. They lack the desire to get it done, at all costs. They aren't motivated
to take action, since they're all extremely wealthy. I can say with almost
absolute certainty that of those of you that voted, the people you voted for
are all much richer than you and I combined. So, without a real interest in
this, why would they work their asses off to change it? For the most part,
their only interests are getting richer, acquiring power and obtaining a level
of fame that many of us can't even imagine. That's their stake in it. So,
why the hell do people expect *them* to *change* things? It's illogical to do
so. Only a fool would make make a conclusion like that based on those
circumstances. They aren't going to shoot themselves in the foot for your sake,
for your benefit. They'll do what benefits them alone. And they'll continue
doing just that, until we collectively choose to stop them...
Written by Blackie Lawless / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
CROSSED WIRES - {WIRES}
Global Domination Update PR for cDc.
For your viewing pleasure, here's a little something from cDc.
_ _
((___)) cDc communications
[ x x ] Global Domination Update #28
\ / "A Special Message of Hope"
(' ') December 24th, 2000
(U) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A TIME OF GREAT REFLECTION IS UPON US
A lot of major events have happened since the last Update... the release
of Back Orifice and BO2K, a completely redone web page, and the formation of
cDc's Hacktivismo subdivision. But since our birth in 1984, the bread-and-
butter of cDc is our routine creative output. That's what these updates are
about, and act as sort of a "State of the Union' address to fill you fine,
upstanding, sexy folks in on the progress of The Struggle.
The United Arab Emirates have recently banned access to our web page from
the grasp of their citizens. Why? Because the international press has gotten
wind of and started to write about Hacktivismo's upcoming "Project X" - which
promises to bypass Internet censorship. Watch for more in the upcoming
months.
It's a traditional manger scene where Mary and Joseph beam with wonder
at the radiant baby Jesus, the wise men and shepherds doing likewise. The
animals are milling about in the background when a cow munching on straw
picks up the baby Jesus by the head and starts chewing. "OH MY GOD!!! It's
eating the Messiah!!!" Jesus' little baby legs kick wildly and the frantic
parents, wise men, shepherds and maybe an angel or two rush around smacking
the cow on the head while tugging on the baby's legs in a desperate attempt
to free him. "Bad cow! BAD COW! Don't eat the Messiah! Stop eating the
Messiah, cow! BAD COW!!!"
And that, boys and girls, is why we make hamburgers from cows to this
very day.
"Manger Scene" by Scott Christensen.
_________________________________/ - x X x - \______________________________
_ _ information is junk mail: _ _
((___)) THE TEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE ((___))
[ x x ] _ [ x x ]
\ / _ |_|_ _ _|_ _|_ |_ _ _| _ _. _| _ _ \ /
(' ') (_|_|| |_ (_) | |_ | |(/_ (_|(/_(_|(_| (_(_)\_/\_/ (' ')
(U) (U)
deal with it presents unto you our personal gift of love deal with it
S U C K E R NEW RELEASES S U C K E R
__________________________________/new audio\_______________________________
"We make hardcore jams, so fuck respect..." -Eazy E
248:"What You Thinkin' 'Bout" by Lo-Pro. This slowed-down, banging gangsta
track features the advanced lyrical stylings of Luck and Sage from
one of the hardest crews in Texas, the LBK Mafia. All-original music
by xxxclusive and Grandmaster Ratte' of cDc. Featuring no damn
samples, period.
249:"DemonSeed's Night Before X-Mas" by Myles Long. A startling tale of
personal redemption, as Long dictates. Script kiddie pays with his
sins with his life, as DemonSeed Elite strikes with his mighty astral
monster truck.
250:"cDc's NSF Holiday Training" by Delchi. There's no "off season" for the
cDc Ninja Strike Force! You fool!! Suffer!! Aagh!!
_________________________________/ - x X x - \______________________________
_ _
((___))
CULT OF THE DEAD COW [ x x ]
\ /
wishes you and (' ')
your charming family "((U)&
a ( )""""&
VERY MERRY HOLIDAY SEASON! &&&&&( .)
&&&( )""""&
""""&&&&&( )&
&&&"""""""&&(
( )&&&&&&&&&&"""""
&&&&&( )"""""&&&( )&
( )&&""""""&&( )&&&&&&&&&
""""""( )&&&&&&( )&&&&( )&
/\___/\ &( )&&&&&&&&( )&&&&&&&"""&&
| @ x | )&&&&&( )&&&&""""""___\|/_&& cDc Likes You Best,
__\_^_/__ ___\|/___ &&&&& | ||| | All Year 'Round!
(__/ooM\__)|___|||___| |___|||___|
(__\___/__)
_______________________________/new text files\_____________________________
376:"cDc's Guide to Sexually Transmitted Diseases" by Myles Long. This former
Eastern-European porn star pulls it all out and lays it on the table for
you regarding STD's.
377:"My Life as Santa's Rubber-Clad Love Slave" by Scott Christensen. It's
It's tough being an elf... you can't reach very high, and you're easy to
tie up and throw in a closet.
_________________________________/ - x X x - \______________________________
From: chankins@network-one.com
To: feedback@cultdeadcow.com
Subject: Stupid
I am a 44 year old x-marine and I like the martial arts. I stumbled up on
this sick sight and would like to invite your bad-ass's over for a lesson any
time some of the sick cows are in my area. I would like to practice my neck
breaking tech. on a stupid cow. I live in Fulton, Ms. and work for the city
utility dept. I am not hard to find. Ask for the Recon. Ranger Eddy.
_________________________________/new visuals\______________________________
1:"Build The Future" by Myles Long. A long, hard road is ahead!
2:"Anime Chicks Dig cDc" by Satoshi "Toy" Igarashi. Anime girl sitting
around. Yep.
3:"Good Ol' Boy" by unknown. George W. Bush, the shape-shifting reptile-
beast, looking goofy.
_________________________________/ - x X x - \______________________________
Thanks to the following recent items of influence:
MUSIC: OutKast, At The Drive-In, Juvenile, AC/DC
FOOD: sweet-potato casserole
PRINT: F.E.D.S. magazine, _The Secret Doctrine of the Kabballah_
WAREZ: Defender, via MacMAME
JEWELRY: iced-down pinkie ring
HOT SEX: yer momma, ha ha...
A brief interview with Count Zero/cDc:
CZ: "What you want to talk about? They ain't my kids and I don't know that
chick. Whatever they told you, I don't know that chick."
Thanks, Zero!
Fools better recognize: CULT OF THE DEAD COW is a gift to the women of this
world and trademark of cDc communications. Established in 1984, cDc is the
longest-running crew in the telecom underground worldwide, and inventor of
the "e-zine." Every issue is produced on an Apple ][ for genuine tru-skool
flavor. You thirst for our body of work, you know you do. Find it at the
cDc Global Domination Factory Direct Outlets:
World Wide Web: www.cultdeadcow.com
Usenet: alt.fan.cult-dead-cow
BBS: 806/794-4362 Entry:KILL
For further information, write:
Email: feedback@cultdeadcow.com
Postal: cDc, 1369 Madison Ave. #423, New York, NY 10128, USA
xoxoxo,
Grandmaster Ratte'
cDc Warrior-Priest-King
"We're into telecom for the groupies and money. Bling bling."
__//////\ -cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc- /\\\\\\__
Est. 1984 \\\\\\/ NINJA STRIKE FORCE * HACKTIVISMO \////// Est. 1984
####
We will have more to say.
---
DAMAGE, INC. REVIEWS - {REVIEWS}
Snapshot of things we currently follow/read.
Instead of reviewing web sites or whatever, we decided to just write about the
things we follow and read these days... as the title suggests. If you have
no interest in knowing what types of sites we frequent, and what types of texts
and zines we read, as offended as we are, you can always just skip ahead to the
next section and read our drug propaganda. Like we're gonna know you did that
anyway... Wait, that was a little misleading. It made it seem like we're not
watching you. For the record, we know what you read and what you don't. We're
like Santa all jacked up on steroids with Psi powers comin' outta his ass. :)
Cult of the Dead Cow - Either you get it, or you don't. Point blank. cDc gets
it. Some people don't get them. Many do. All that matters is, they put out
what they want and don't conform to other people. And that's just damn cool.
I don't just mean in this electronic realm either. Living that way is the only
way to really live. Creating what you want, putting forth the ideas you want,
and doing what you want... out of the desire to please yourself instead of
others around you. Read the interview with G. Ratte' in this issue for better
insight on the group.
SecurityFocus.com - Excellent security information on the site and in the
newsletter. Subscribing to the mailing list is highly recommended.
Hacker News Network - HNN, maintained by Weld Pond of the L0pht (now @Stake),
has a wide range of newsworthy articles and is updated regularly. The site
also has a web site defacements list (from attrition.org), for the kids that
want to see all phreaky graphics, messages and shout outs on the latest sites
to be hax0red. Hehe.
Hack Canada - An excellent assortment of articles relating to Canadian
hacking/phreaking. New texts are released on a regular basis. Very informative
and a great resource for the Canadian scene.
Nettwerked - The Clone, who is also part of the Hack Canada crew in Alberta,
has put together a really cool site of his own, along with a zine, K-1ine. I
realize he has been interviewed and this has been mentioned before in earlier
issues. And Nettwerked is an affiliate of Damage, INC. However, it bears
mentioning that with each new issue he releases, the improvements are
drastically noticeable and readily apparent. If you're Canadian, his site is
a must visit for the solid telco information alone. In my opinion, Nettwerked
has put out some of the best quality t-files in the Canadian scene...
Adbusters - Culture jamming, Spoof ads, Magazine, Uncommercials, Campaigns like
"Buy Nothing Day", etc. Are you tired of commercialism infiltrating *every*
area of "society" and aspect of your lives? Go here and read, then act.
www.adbusters.org
rTMark - An actual corporation that's about trying to improve culture. As they
say "it seeks cultural profit, not financial." What a novel concept! Another
quote from their FAQ "rTMark supports the sabotage (informative alteration) of
corporate products, from dolls and children's learning tools to electronic
action games, by channeling funds from investors to workers for specific
projects grouped into "mutual funds." Go there, read and get involved with
their various projects. A very cool site that's *about something*.
www.rtmark.com
We also read a lot of the texts and zines on www.textfiles.com and
http://scene.textfiles.com as well. Plus, we still read some of the zines
we reviewed here in previous issues, etc.
DRUGSTORE COWBOYS - {DRUGS}
Got drug propaganda? Trip on this.
We brought back the Drugs section, but decided to give it a hip new name. Yeah,
that's right. We changed it *just* so you'd think it was cooler. The new name
refers to the movie "Drugstore Cowboy", which has a cameo appearance by
Burroughs... who plays an old junkie. ;) A cool movie, and a fitting title
for this section... as it reflects what it's about quite nicely.
The anti-drug campaign (or spin/propaganda machine) has been going steadily
for well over half a century now. You would think that people would be more
informed and enlightened in their views on drugs and drug use by now. But
governments, law enforcement, the legal system, medical associations and doctors
don't seem to be getting it. Not in most countries at least. Not yet.
Some of the most hilarious drug propaganda is circa 1950-1960. In that era, it
wasn't uncommon for people, especially parents of teenagers, to believe that
their kids would go insane and become sex crazed maniacs from indulging in
smoking marijuana. Some even thought their children would become enraged,
pyschopathetic killers. As laughable as that sounds, it's true. They thought
that was a real possibility. And the government was behind spreading those
types of outright lies, through their own campaigns. Rumours became truths.
Were the 50s perfect? If you wanted to live in a make-believe... dream world,
far separated from reality, then maybe. Regardless of all the lies that were
spread, people still used drugs throughout the 50s. The propaganda meant to
fool and scare people failed then, and it's still failing miserably now.
In the 1980s and 90s, the government really stepped it up a few notches. They
began to run commercials that were chock full of "shock value" -- at least,
as much as they could possibly put into them. I'm sure you've all seen the
public service announcements on television. Well, those of you that watch TV
must have.
What about currently? Well, the anti-drug propaganda is still out there,
proliferating as it always has. That hasn't changed. That won't change, until
people realize that it's about *personal choice*. Drugs can definitely affect
some people's lives adversely. In other words, it fucks them up and they'd
be much better off without using them. For others, it's a source of inspiration
and creativity. As strange as that might seem to some people, it's true.
Regardless of what you use, or don't use, just consider this. Get the straight
facts before you start fucking around with things. If you think you can shoot
heroin once, to experiment with it, just to try it, think again. It's possible,
but it's also more likely that you won't stop at using it once for the
experience. Unless it does nothing for you, which is pretty rare. And whatever
you choose to do, research it first. And if you decide to use pills, get them
tested first if you can. You never know what shit is going to be mixed in, or
what it really is at all unless you do that. You don't want to be doing things
that aren't pure. But with h, you don't want to shoot some that's *too* pure
either. Anyway, just think about these things, or stick with smoking dope.
By the way, I'm not preaching. Do whatever the hell you want to do. But being
careless doesn't make you cool kids. Dying young doesn't make you cool either.
Remember these things, and make your drug experiences as safe as you can.
Written by BLACKENED / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
H/P INF0 - {H/P}
Bringin' back the old sk00l and hittin' hard with it.
Yeah, that's right. We are bringin' it back. It ain't all about the Gnu
exploitz. Sometimes you've gotta go back to the old sk00l... and thus, we're
giving you a healthy dose of it. Coloured boxes? You know it doesn't get
anymore old sk00l than that!
Bell Centrex Explained.
While on a trashing expedition, I found some papers that contained information
about the Bell Centrex telephone service. In this article, I will give you a
brief explanation as to what the Bell Centrex service is, who will have it, and
a list of features that can be taken advantage of if you have access to Centrex.
Bell Centrex is a service that Bell Canada attempts to sell to small businesses
that are too small to purchase a PBX system, but have outgrown the limitations
of basic POTS business services. For example, a small business may want an
easy way to have phones in their building to have their own assigned extensions.
Bell will try to sell Centrex because they can set it up to do this for a
potential customer. All Centrex customers will be locked into a three-year
contract, so if you find a business that has just signed up, you'll have three
year to take advantage of the basic features that they will have (if you're
interested in them).
At the site of the Centrex subscriber, there is no hardware or software that
enables them to obtain Centrex services. The actual Centrex system is housed
and maintained in the confines of Bell Canada. When someone subscribes to
Centrex, they are given a piece of paper stating the date that they will switch
over from the POTS to Centrex. That transfer also happens at Bell. Unless the
subscriber has problems, a technician will not have to visit the subscriber in
order to connect them to the Centrex service.
Bell has made Centrex so that people that have very little or no knowledge of
the telephone system think that it is a PBX. The first trick they used is to
require callers to press "9" in order to dial out. Rudimentary extension
service is another ploy to make people believe that they are using a PBX when it
is just the POTS with some extra features thrown in by Bell. The truth is that
Centrex is a PBX sham, and has none of the flexibility or expendability that any
real PBX system has.
For small business owners that have little knowledge of the telephone system and
don't know or care about what a PBX is, they will be attracted to Centrex
because of all of the "SmartTouch" services that Bell has given Centrex as
standard features. In fact, don't be surprised if you find that Bell has sold
Centrex to small businesses that have not outgrown the capabilities of the POTS.
If the business subscribes to more than three features like Call Waiting,
Caller ID, Call Forwarding, etc. it is cheaper for them to subscribe to Centrex
then to stay on the POTS and subscribe to individual features. This can be
valuable to a field phreak that can find a Centrex subscriber because they will
all have the same set of features, and could have them for a substantial period
of time. I have typed up, word for word, the poorly written Bell Centrex list
of features that I found for your reference. You will quickly notice that Bell
has given Centrex features different LASS codes in order to activate/deactivate
them:
Subject: Dialing Plan & Centrex Configuration & Features
1. To dial local or operator assisted calling card calls press "9" as the
leading digit.
Please remember to reprogram any auto dial or circuit alarm numbers as
per the above dialing plan (ie. Interac, visa/master card machines, built
in speed dial's on your fax).
2. Call Forward Calls Externally
1. Lift the hand set
2. Depress *70
3. Listen for special dial tone
4. Dial the number you are forwarding to (remember to dial "9" first)
5. Listen for the confirmation tone
6. Hang up
To Cancel Call Forward:
1. Lift the hand set
2. Depress *71
3. Listen for confirmation tone
4. Hang up
3. Transfer Calls Externally:
1. Press the Link key (this places the caller on hold)
2. Listen for the special tone
3. Dial 9 + 7 digit telephone number of the person you are transferring to
4. Announce the call
5. Press the Link key (this brings the call off hold
6. Hang up
4. 3-Way Conference Call
1. Follow the above procedure to the point of announcing the call
2. Press the Link key
3. You now have a 3 party conference call using only one line.
If there is no answer, or it is busy, press (LINK) twice and you are back
with your original party.
5. Call Park:
1. Press LINK
2. Dial *72
3. Listen for confirmation tone.
4. Replace the handset
6. Speed Call Short (0-9):
To Store
1. Lift handset
2. Press *77
3. Dial one digit code and telephone number (ie. 0+9+888-1111)
4. Replace handset
To Use
1. Lift handset
2. Press * followed by one digit code (ie *0)
7. Ring Again:
To Use
1. You have called someone and have received a busy signal. Press LINK +
*76. Listen for the confirmation tone.
2. Replace the handset.
3. When the called station becomes free you will hear the Ring Again
notification (one long and two short rings. Lift the handset. The call
will automatically ring.
To Cancel Ring Again
1. Lift the handset. Listen for the dial tone.
2. Dial *76. Listen for the confirmation tone.
3. Replace the handset. Your request will be cancelled.
8. To Call Forward on a No-Answer Condition:
1. Lift handset and pick telephone line
2. Dial *90 (listen for confirmation tone)
3. Enter the telephone number you wish the call directed to either an
external number (9+7 digit telephone) or internally to a 4-digit number
within the office.
To Cancel Forward on a No-Answer Condition:
1. Lift handset and press a line
2. Dial *91 (listen for confirmation tone)
3. Hang-up receiver
9. To Call Forward on a Busy Condition:
1. Lift handset and pick telephone line
2. Dial *88 (listen for confirmation tone)
3. enter the telephone number you wish the call directed to either
(9+telephone number for an external number) or a 4-digit extension or
another number within your office (last 4 digits of the telephone #)
To Cancel Forward on a Busy Condition:
1. Lift handset and press a line
2. Dial *89 (listen for confirmation tone)
3. Hang-up receiver
10. Call Waiting:
When to use Feature
1. To answer a second call
2. To end current caller
To Use
1. When you HEAR a TONE through the receiver press LINK once. The first
caller is put on HOLD automatically.
2. Replace handset. Your telephone will ring.
3. Lift the handset, you are now connected to the third party.
4. To return to first caller, press LINK once.
---
Written by Shatazar / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
Modem Brown Box.
By Phractal.
Using your modem as a bridge for two separate lines to create '3-way calling'
This is a common scenario that many dialup users of the internet have on
their computers. Many people have two phone lines at home, for the
convenience of being connected to the internet via telephone and also being
able to use the other line for voice calls.
In this diagram, we start out with two separate phone lines, each having
their own unique telephone number of course. One line supplies Phone A with
access to a dialtone. Line two plugs directly into the modem. Almost all
telephone modems have two phone jacks. One is meant for the incoming phone
line (ie the line coming from the wall), and the other is meant to attach to
phone (Phone B), which can be used when the modem is not in use, and will
operate on the same line as line 2, naturally. This is where 'I' and 'O'
labeled on the modem come into place. The 'I' stands for input, and the 'O'
stands for output. On many modems, the input jack is labeled 'Line', and the
output jack is labeled 'Phone'. When the modem is not in use, think of it as
a router for Line 2 to Phone B.
*POTS lines from wall
Line 1 Line 2
Phone Line Modem Line
|~| |~|
| |
| |
| | /----------\
| | | |
| | /-------------\ | Computer | /----------\
| | | | | | | @@@@@@@@ |
_______ \-------| had to say, since he has strong
opinions, beliefs and a very unique take on things -- including "society", its
rules and laws. And now we're giving you even more to contemplate with our
latest interview.
Grandmaster Ratte' (cDc) is in the spotlight. Obviously, Cult of the Dead Cow
is a very well known, revered, respected, influential group in the scene. Since
1984, they've been doing nothing short of kickin' fuckin' ass. With the longest
running e-zine, a diverse group of members and a wide assortment of releases,
along with media saturation, cDc stands apart from all the rest. More than just
being high profile, their members have made a huge impact and countless valuable
contributions. Bow to the Cow.
I'm eternally grateful that he has agreed to be interviewed for the Damage, INC.
Newsletter. His insight into the scene is immeasurable and comments invaluable.
But enough with the pre-interview hype, adulation and near awe struck admiration
of cDc. In this interview, we explore everything from the group dynamic of cDc
to other topics such as Hacktivism, etc. Just read the damn interview and enjoy
it without dropping your jaw so much that your keyboard becomes covered in thick
saliva. This interview was conducted towards the end of December, 2000, and it
commences right here...
Alias: Grandmaster Ratte'
Group(s):cDc communications
Country: US of A
Description: SWM, 30, 2 legs, non-smoker, active, fit, enjoys knitting and cats.
Seeks baby seal for (c)lubbin'.
Music: minor key stuff with a catchy melody, all styles
Movies: sitting way down close to the screen to get my money's worth of
spectacle
Books: non-fiction
Email: gratte@cultdeadcow.com
IRC: gratte
Usenet: alt.fan.cult-dead-cow
URL(s): www.cultdeadcow.com
- Since no introductions are necessary, I'll just jump right into the
real interview questions. How has cDc managed to stay together, evolve and
be so productive throughout the years? Many other groups have disappeared,
dissolved and basically weren't able to adapt and keep evolving. I realize
that cDc is fundamentally different, but, it's still an amazing feat to last
so very long. And the fact the group is still growing and expanding its domain
is also impressive. So, the question is, what's the driving force behind the
group? What's responsible for it continuing to grow and thrive? And how are
you able to maintain such dedication and diligence?
-----
Well, cDc resulted from a name change to an earlier group called Pan-Galactic
Entropy that I had started in '83, '84 in Lubbock, Texas (806). We were the
local BBS scene kids, mostly in junior high, and the majority of us were running
our own boards... on Apple II's, Texas Instruments 99/4a's and Atari 800's.
Lubbock is a weird little college town in the middle of cotton field country.
There's sort of a clique of the offspring of the Texas Tech University
professors and the students who tend to find each other and huddle together in
the midst of tumbleweeds and pickup trucks with gun racks. So that was us.
A lot of other computer underground things came from that unlikely place. In
the '80s there were two major h/p BBS's there before ours, and GwD and F.U.C.K.
(now Attrition.org) started there; all revolving around the university.
Enough background, now I'll answer the question...
In 1986, I came up with the cDc name and Franken Gibe joined. Gibe's a really
sharp visionary type, and we would talk endlessly about the hacker/BBS scene and
what we didn't like about it, and what we wanted to do with our own group
differently. So the two of us really put together the whole 'concept' that's
been driving everything since. Fortunately, the concept is very broad and
inclusive and says basically, "The technology is not the point - it's just
a means to something else." That right there put us 180 degrees apart from
every hacker group before and it still trips up most people I think in the
'scene' - they fall in love with the gadgetry itself and don't see that's just
a dead end.
Until it's too late and they're burned out from a small idea that can't grow.
So our mission is to use these crazy communications tools to figure out
something else.
When we started, it was about using the free long-distance phone calls, and now
it's on the 'net. No difference.
In practical terms, you stay together through... stubbornness? cDc is my main
creative outlet, I _have_ to do this. For a group to survive, I think it has to
have passion about what it's doing, 'cause there's not much else to sustain it -
no salaries or concrete payoffs. The most rewarding thing about it is the sense
of accomplishment when you've done some work you know is good, and the feedback
you hopefully get from people who dig your stuff.
The trick is to keep it fresh and interesting for the people involved, which
means change and growth if you're determined to stick with your plan. It's
inevitable. As Woody Allen said, "Ninety percent of success is just showing
up." So show up, put in work, keep doing it, and there ya go.
People come and go from cDc. There have been 50 or so members over the years,
and we tend to have an active lineup of around 20 people at any given time.
Currently, some of the people have been in since the mid '80s and some around a
year, and they're all still bringing different things to the table.
The concept of cDc includes a change of roster... the concept has to be bigger
than any of the people. Individuals are flighty, they change and their lives go
this way and that and a group has to accommodate that reality or it can't work.
As long as there are people willing to do the necessary grunt work, things'll
hum along fine.
-----
- Hacktivism is one of the topics that I simply couldn't ignore during
the course of this interview. So let's get into it. In your opinion, what's
the importance of Hacktivism as it stands right now? And, do you think it'll
be even more important in the future? Will it be more of a potent tool to
get political messages across? What are you views on it as a means of
protesting and enacting change?
I'd say right now, Hacktivism is a bubbling idea. It's still in the pot, and a
lot of people are standing around the stove rubbing their hands, waiting to dig
in. We've got a "subsidiary" now called Hacktivismo that OXblood Ruffin is
stirring up... they're all hot-shit coders and are working on practical human
rights apps that will make Hacktivism a more concrete force.
Hacktivism is about finding a political, real world end to these tech means...
which is exactly the same as the cDc concept. So it's another way to spread our
idea about what the point to all this is. Yes, I think it will be very
important in the near future. I think a lot of people are and many, many more
will be picking up the flag and running with it. It's something to care about
and fight for and I'm proud to be involved.
-----
- Since cDc is producing and releasing audio now, and you mentioned to me
that you've been really into it for 10 years or so now... I thought it'd be
prudent to ask what the plans are. How big is cDc gonna get into audio and
what types of projects are in the works?
Yeah, I've been playing bass and guitar and yelling in zillions of noisy bands
since I was 16. Then I got into hip-hop and dance production in '90 with an
Amiga and a little keyboard and a 4-track. Franken Gibe and I started a punk
club with partners who had a skateboard park in a warehouse and we put on lots
of shows for a few years. Some raves, too. Then xxxclusive and I put together
a lil' ol' recording studio in a few different places and we did tons of demo
production, mostly southern gangsta hip-hop and punk rock.
We're gonna be very into audio, at least as much as we've been into text files.
The first MP3 we put out was in mid '97, and now we've got the bandwidth to
really do things right. The plan is to target the music scene specifically with
our audio and do lots of stuff with the guys running Shoutcast sites. So we'll
plug along with our telecom, no-budget way of doing things and then a few years
later the old conventional scene maybe will notice what we've been up to. That
seems to be the way it goes.
-----
- cDc is infamous for its media relations. By that, I simply mean, the
group is very well known in media circles, and utilizes the mass media as an
outlet. In fact, in my view, you're masters at it. My question is, how was
this relationship with the media formed and achieved? Who is responsible for
forging these media relations? And how important is the media aspect to cDc?
In school in the late '80s I wrote a paper about "electronic publishing" and
how important I thought it would be and the professor said it was a ridiculous
idea. Ha. In college, I got a degree in telecommunications - which means radio
and TV stuff. I also had classes in journalism, public relations, marketing,
advertising, and media law. So I was in all these classes learning about
dealing with the media, and I thought, "Well, we've got a magazine, sort of, so
why not act like it?" I was just using standard media relations tactics in a
new environment. I'd scour every magazine I could find for email addresses
(this was way before dot com mania and e-i-e-i-o-everything) of "movers and
shakers" and send them press releases about our stuff.
Relating to the media is very important for cDc for two reason. One, because
mass media is how you spread a message - advertising costs money, but public
relations work is free. Two, because in the context of what we do, issuing
press releases and fielding interviews and such is freakin' hilarious. And so,
the more the better. We catch flack from a few humorless gimps in the hacker
world who don't get it, but the press aren't the enemy. They're just cats doing
their job and most of 'em are cool folks. They want a hook, they want "riveting
drama", 'scool. You hang out with a reporter at a restaurant, they pay for your
food, you tell 'em a story. If it's not you, they'll just go find some other
car wreck to look at.
Different people in the group field different kinds of questions, so between us
we can cover things pretty well.
-----
- On a similar note, cDc has always been excellent at promoting itself
within the scene, and even outside of it. The group is well known for its
unmistakable style and flash. And so, relating to this, how do you put
together the shows you put on at the various hacker cons the group attends?
We use a lot of antihero imagery to wrap up an essentially positive message -
most people figure it out but a few knuckle-draggers don't get it. That's ok,
they don't have to. We do these things because it's fun to scheme and plot and
use these techniques in this context; we're playing around. We're not making
money and we're not trying to trick anybody. The attitude is that we definitely
want everybody in on the fun, ya know. The only market we're interested in is
hearts and minds, and the point will be more clear as our agenda emerges over
time.
We plan for the shows we do in email mostly. Then as the time draws near, a lot
of work goes into getting lights and sound working right (sometimes) and
whatever printed materials we're giving out to press, throwing to the crowd,
etc. We have to put the recorded audio together on a CD, and maybe there'll be
some video. Which is a nightmare with video projectors and such. Of course
you've gotta have some sort of show concept, and you have to script out who's
saying what and when. Then you've got costumes to put together, and props and
figuring out how to get all your junk to the location. When you see the stage,
you have to figure out staging: how you come in, where you stand, who does what
where. How the lights are going to work. The audio cues. At H2K we had a
theater group doing a play and so I had to meet with them several times for
script-writing and rehearsals. They did a great job.
We also did three musical numbers, and so the people involved with that had to
know how the songs went and what they were supposed to be doing. It's a whole
big fat ton of work to put on those shows and they cost quite a bit of money to
do. We don't get paid for them either, so we hope to make some of the money
back with t-shirt sales.
-----
- Judging by their writing, quotes in articles and interviews, each member
of cDc seems to have a very distinct style, unique personalities and interests.
It's a group of real individuals, which is very cool. And you keep it fresh,
by adding members, expanding, constantly getting into new things, etc.
The group as a whole seems to have its own culture, at least that's how many
outside observers view it. More than just a generic hacker culture. Can you
rant a a little on cDc culture, and give us an idea of what some of the basic
ethics and ideals of the group are? Is there anything that isn't permitted
within the "boundaries" of cDc and all that the name encompasses?
Yeah, everyone in cDc is definitely their own person and we want them to project
their characters as much as possible. We have an internal culture of
communicating on a personal level with each other, in most cases for many years.
Before everyone had Internet email, cDc communicated through a private message
board on the Demon Roach BBS. Then that switched over by the early '90s to an
Internet mailing list we're all on. We talk about intimate details of our
lives, know embarrassing things about each other, etc. There are cliques within
the group, but for the most part we're all fairly close friends. I guess you
could say the culture sort of comes from knowing that this isn't a regular
hacker group, it's not supposed to be, and that we're pushing for something
else. Finding something else is the culture of the group. That's what keeps it
fresh and interesting for us. Being in cDc is like being in a band, or a gang,
or both. But it's a new definition without the traditional boundaries. It's
much better. It's an ideal, a lifestyle. The ideal is to be this renaissance
person, mad ninja skills in all aspects of life, enlightened, uber-el33t, etc.
So maybe you're really a bit lamer than all that superstar stuff, but ya know,
at least you can inspire your own damn ass. And that's pretty cool.
-----
- How has cDc changed since you first started writing and releasing issues?
I still vividly remember reading cDc's t-files from the 80s... with the early
ones including song lyrics for albums, lists, telecom terms and that sort of
thing. The evolution of the group was so clear and apparent as each year
passed. Was it as natural an evolution as it seemed?
We started doing text-files in '84 and over the next year or so we had amassed
quite a few. With the name change to cDc, we started numbering the text files
to make them collectible, so you could tell if you didn't have them all. Before
that, nobody was numbering anything.
Quite a few t-files didn't make the cut at that point, though you might still
see them floating around. So by then we had a little 'zine with enough articles
to warrant our own subdirectory on a BBS. The next issue was distribution, so
we made a point of making damn sure all our files got onto the biggest h/p and
text BBS's at the time. We would recruit sysops into our efforts; for a long
time we had an organized "Factory Direct Outlet" distribution plan to
guarantee certain BBS's would carry our releases as soon as they came out. So
we basically churned away like this, growing gradually, until 1993 when
Drunkfux set up our first Internet site, cypher.com. Mindvox was also huge and
we were all over it, a telnet-able BBS in New York that everybody who was
anybody was on. This was when the "cyperpunk" thing was happening, the last of
the big hacker-scene busts was going on, and we started doing press releases
through Internet email. We had a _massive_ email list then, which I'd send out
manually one at a time and it took days to send out a PR. The goal was if you
had a computer and a modem, we wanted to be in your face about cDc. This
was when the hacker cons became more widespread... SummerCon had been going on
yearly in St. Louis with the Phrack scene, but now Defcon started and Drunkfux
had his HoHoCons ( in my opinion, the best - freakin' NUTS - cons now are
watered-down pussy shit compared to those). So by the early '90s, the Internet
happened and we grew beyond the BBS scene and that's been the situation. We've
been wanting deliriously to do wider media than t-files for almost ten years now
but didn't have the bandwidth to handle the kinda traffic these releases move.
I'm very excited about that stuff. The cDc web site has been totally redone six
times now I think, and the latest is kinda cool. It has a "content management
system" - w00.
-----
- What do you think the legacy of cDc will be? What will the group be
doing 5 or 10 years from now? Yes, I'm basically asking you to predict the
future. ;)
Astral travel. Building an army of psionic warriors to battle the alien
reptilian overlords in the 4th dimension for the fate of mankind.
-----
- Excluding BackOrifice and BO2K, what has cDc written or done that made
a huge impact on the scene? (including texts, ideas, ideals, terms coined,
philosophies, etc.) And which cDc issue stands out in your mind, and why?
I think our biggest impact has been the idea of electronic publishing, through
the e-zine, webzine, whatever. BO is a cool app and made a lot of noise but in
the big picture, coming up with "new media" is a way bigger deal.
We're sort of in a weird position, because on one hand we're the flagbearers of
certain "old skool hacker" traditions - on the other hand, we were all
about breaking from some of that when we started. Now the cultural enemies are
the dot com ninnies and the scared reactionaries who come following them not
realizing what they're getting into. You can't just hide the Playboys in the
dresser and keep the scary books out of the library any more - gee, maybe you
should stop treating your kids like retards who have to be sheltered from
anything challenging, and they'll turn out better. I'm digressing, sorry. I
guess the influence to the hacker scene in general is the attitude that we're
here to have fun and build something cool. In particular, there are tons of
details... I'll see quotes from us in the mission statements of groups,
unattributed. File templates cut and pasted from ours. Too many to think of.
Tons of times I'll be reading somebody else's etext or whatever and think
"Oh, that came from my...so and so". References and whatnot all over the place.
It's cool, it's fine. Everything's always built on what came before. We were
looking at the Apple Mafia and LOD/H and figuring out what we didn't wanna do
in the early days, and now we're thinking about the Rolling Stones (in '73) and
KISS.
But the most important cDc innovation: MIXED-CASE ACRONYMS!!
The cDc file that stands out the most to me is #200: "Super mega blah blah
blah." That damn thing took like a year to put together, and I remember
finishing it up at some crazy hour of the morning just before I drove off for 7
hours to a HoHoCon. I hadn't put out a file all year, we had been stuck at #199
forever and everyone in the group was pretty pissed off. So I basically
couldn't show my face without that file. I brought it on a floppy and all was
well, and I still think it's the best file I've done by far. I've been really
happy with the concept, an elaborate Dickens parody through the eyes of a BBS
sysop. Another file that stands out to me is the "Six Million Dollar Man -
alien conspiracy" (#253) thing. At some hacker con, Omega and White Knight
had a handful of copies printed out and announced he had this "special
exclusive paper" and these journalist guys were LEAPING for it, yelling "Press!"
It was too funny, and something really clicked for us, seeing that. Also, I
remember that Mormon-expose file by Krass Katt being kind of an "oh wow" moment,
along with the first time I'd seen all that UFO-Roswell-MJ12 conspiracy stuff...
Gibe and I used to sit around, freaked out, talking about all that business when
we first found it on the old UFONet boards in the late 80s.
-----
- You mentioned HOPE was more interesting this year than Defcon... How
was Jello Biafra's speech? What's your take on cons in general?
As far as cDc stuff goes, our show at HOPE last year was probably the best live
show we've ever done. Then two weeks later at Defcon, very little went like it
was supposed to, and it was pretty disappointing. I remember coming back to the
"Suite of the Elite" after the show just feeling down and mumbling to myself,
"It didn't work, it didn't work." We had a lot of communications problems
within the group leading up to it and we weren't really on the same page. And
then tons of technical glitches and general confusion led to a half-assed show.
But we learned a lot about what not to do and to not just assume things will
work out, and next year should be insane.
Jello Biafra's speech was really cool, I think it's definitely what's needed -
an outside voice pointing towards some sort of agenda, via hacktivism and such.
I think the problem with these cons has been sort of a blase' attitude - I see a
lot of kids throwing themselves in these "Internet security consulting
companies" trying to act like some dim-witted view of what "professional" means
and not seem like they're 16 years old. Thinking they're going to pull a L0pht
and somebody's going to throw 'em some money. Get real, kid. Too much
unimaginative dull thinking going on, people not seeing the big picture or
thinking about the potential here. Enough complaining though, cons are still
great and everyone should go if possible. It's really fun to meet people from
the pages and IRC and hang out for a weekend.
-----
- Do you want to give any shout outs to anyone?
Yes, everybody who's helped us out in some way over the years. Carried our
stuff on their system, put a sticker someplace, bought a t-shirt, sent some good
feedback, told someone about cDc, lugged stuff around at a con, wrote a story
about us. We appreciate it very much. We're so grateful to everyone.
-----
- Thanks for doing this interview. We really appreciate it.
Thank you, it was fun. Happy New Year, y'all...
G. Ratte'/cDc
-----
Afterward:
To say the very least, interviewing Grandmaster Ratte' has been a real highlight
for me, and has made this issue special. I remember reading cDc issues in
the late 80s, when I first got into BBSing and the whole text scene. In all
honesty, I grew up reading cDc. Their files are the biggest reason that I
got into this at all. And, I can still vividly remember scanning while reading
the latest cDc issues. ;) So, massive thanks to G. Ratte' and the rest of cDc
for putting out such high quality material throughout the years. It's amazing
how they've been able to play such a prominent role in the scene for so many
years, and still not take themselves too seriously... and keep their sense of
humour, etc. Thanks again for giving our readers a chance to get to know you
and cDc better. And keep sending the cDc PR our way.
To our readers, make sure you hit www.cultdeadcow.com and check it for all their
cool new stuff. Damn straight you better!
NEWS FROM THE TRENCHES - {NEWS}
WXYZ Channel 7 Action News at 11 from Detroit City baby! We're down in the
trenches and we're diggin' up the dirt for your reading pleasure. Once again
it's time for the News. So hold onto your hats folks, because this edition
has more flash, razzle and dazzle than a Vegas show and a newsstand tabloid put
together. Yeah, that's right. We've got the straight dope on all the
happenings. And, we're reporting live from the source, inside the heavily
guarded Damage, INC. compound. So get up, wake up and come with it now!
We realize it has been a long time since we've released a new issue. But
since the end of June, a hell of a lot has been going on. However, we're off
to a good start in 2001. And that's all that really matters right now.
Our texts are now readable online at www.textfiles.com/groups/DAMAGEINC/
Yes, the URL is case sensitive. Yes, our directory is right below cDc on
the groups page. We know. ;)
A new edition of the Phreaky Field Phreaking List for Winter 2001 is on its
way to CRTs and printers everywhere. So, look for it to be available sometime
in January. Hit the site for all the details.
We also have a few little projects in the works. More details will be released
at a future date. I just wanted to create some anticipation and leave you
wondering... Here's some hints. Think merchandise. Think phreaky. Think.
OBJECTIVE OPINIONS - {OPINIONS}
The Propaganda Machine Rolls On.
Spinning its wheels, spinning its spin, the propaganda machine always manages
to roll on. It's wheeling and dealing, churning and turning, bubbling and
sputtering, but it still always manages to spout out misinformation and
disinformation when it's called upon. It's a public relations machine and a
corrupt politician's dream. It's big, bad, nasty and mean. And it's churning
out lies throughout the world, in every scene.
Propaganda is defined as being "an association, organized scheme, for
propagation of a doctrine or practice; doctrines, information, etc. thus
propagated; efforts, schemes, principles, of propagation."
Simply put, that means the spreading of information, ideas, beliefs, dogma,
principles, and systems by way of an organized scheme or effort.
The focus of this article isn't just propaganda, but rather the actual workings
of it. As in, the machinery that drives it, creates it, and spreads it.
Picture the image of a steamroller, except it is able to travel at the speed
of information, faster than the speed of light. Now think of that information
being tainted and corrupted. The highways the propaganda machine paves over
previously contained truth, but now they're built on falsehoods and lies. In
essence, that's how it works. The question is, who's driving it? And what are
the reasons for wanting to spread lies? Why use propaganda at all? What is the
purpose of it? In this article, I'll attempt to answer those questions. In the
process of doing that, I'll state my own opinions on the propaganda machine.
Just keep in mind, no one's opinion is completely objective. There's natural
bias and subjectivity built into them all, including mine. However, most people
won't admit that before stating them, since consciously or subconsciously they
want you to agree with them and believe everything they've written. Unlike
those people, I'm willing to honestly make an admission such as that up front so
that you know ahead of time. That way, you can think and form your own opinions
while reading this article, without being influenced in any way to agree with
me. That being said, here's the truth -- as I see it -- behind propaganda.
Propaganda has infiltrated every facet of our so-called "society", from
government and military reports, to campaign advertisements during elections.
But that's not all. That's just the beginning. It takes on so many forms that
it can sometimes be difficult to recognize as being propaganda at all. It has
spread so far, that it's literally everywhere and in everything now. In fact,
it has become ubiquitous. Just like Big Brother. Sure, we've written about
propaganda before. And you know it's one of Big Bro's favourite tools to use
against us, to influence us. But do you know how it works? Do you know how it
gets inside of your brain? It's brainwashing. It's out and out mind control,
just as much as any other technique that relies on technology. Hell, your
television and radio are both technologies that can be used to spread
propaganda. They're part of the machine. They're tools. Computers are also
tools. Nothing is completely good, or completely pure. Almost any type of
technology can be used against us by Big Brother. Nothing is entirely
beneficial and harmless. Nothing.
Obviously, the answer to the first question of who's driving the propaganda
machine is Big Brother. They're in the driver's seat. They're at the helm.
They're pulling the levers, hitting the switches and pushing the buttons. And
they're pulling the strings too. But not all of us are naive puppets, and so
easily controlled by the propaganda machine. We aren't all zombies, yet.
The reasons for wanting to spread lies, disinformation and misinformation are
simple. It keeps us from knowing the truth. It influences the public to think
they know what Big Bro wants them to know. It throws them off track. It keeps
them blind and in the dark. It keeps them down. It keeps them ignorant. It's
a barricade that keeps them out of the loop. They can't get at the inside
information. They can't get the real stuff, the truth. They can only feast on
the lies. They can only rely on what they've read, heard, or been told. And
many of them believe it, without question.
The actual propaganda machine is media. And I don't just mean mass media
publications, broadcasts and the the various media organizations and outlets in
the world. That is, even though the mass media has always been one of Big
Brother's closest allies... they aren't the entire propaganda machine. The mass
media is just the biggest part of the engine. It consists of much more than
the mainstream media sources and outlets. We're talking about a huge, worldwide
machine that can encompass even the smallest zines, pamphlets and leaflets.
Hell, propaganda can be something as small as a flyer that has been stuck
underneath the windshield wiper on your car. And it can be as big as a
government controlled, national television news station. It isn't that easy
to bring it to a halt either, unless you revolt and overthrow the government
behind it. Yes, that happens, but look at the damage that has already been
done by the time it's taken off the air. Ask a Russian about Stalin, and even
now, the older ones will still speak of him with reverence and respect. That's
propaganda at work, long after his death. Long after the demise of the machine,
the imagery it brainwashed people with can still live on.
Propaganda is often spread by word of mouth from person to person as well, in
the same way that rumours are. This method isn't as slow as you may believe.
If people are already prone to believe something, they'll spread it like
wildfire throughout their area. And in turn, the people they tell will be
likely to do the same. It continues from there until entire cities believe
something that's entirely false.
Things have changed drastically in the last century though, with the advent
and widespread use of technology such as television, radio, etc. And of course,
now there's the Internet, and people have high speed digital connections to the
rest of the world. And so, that just means propaganda can be spread even
quicker than in previous generations. A wired world aids the spread of
propaganda more than anything else. Technology only enables propagandists to
spread their lies anywhere and everywhere in what equates to a millisecond.
Propaganda at the speed of light. Broadband bandwidth for propagandists
everywhere baby. That's where it's at. Now anyone can spread their message,
and reach anywhere on the globe with it, faster than previously imagined.
Propaganda is, and always has been, a powerful force. It's a tool of choice for
governments across the globe. It is, without a doubt, one of the oldest forms
of misleading people. And it has been a proven means of swaying public opinion
and creating popularity in order to obtain power and control. Certain political
parties (past and present) perfected the use of propaganda to the degree that
they could attain whatever power they wanted, and do whatever they wanted, with
very little opposition. In fact, the holocaust during WWII was due in no small
part to propaganda. Yes, propaganda can lead to massacre. Once mastered, it
can influence people to do anything. A well oiled propaganda machine can kill
and slaughter anyone in its path, very easily. The corpses it leaves in its
wake aren't even speed bumps. They don't slow it down at all. It just rolls
on and on. Usually counter-propaganda and physical force are all that can stop
it once it gets going. Propaganda warfare. That can be just as dangerous in
an unstable world. So, the next time you read something, consider the machine
that might be at work behind it. Rolling... rolling. Churning and burning.
Written by BLACKENED / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
Hacker Culture.
To paraphrase what Erik Bloodaxe once wrote in Phrack during his editorship,
technical articles aren't as memorable as hacker culture. And long after they
were written, they aren't usually very useful either. Most often they're
virtually obsolete as you would be hard pressed to find an active, working
system around that they describe a decade or more after they were written. But
the articles on people, the stories and the hacker lore survive years, and even
decades after they're written. In this article, I'm going to attempt to explain
why, as well as give my own opinions on hacker culture, past, present and
future.
Hacker culture grows and evolves like everything else. In hacking, it's the
people that make it interesting, and the people that are remembered. Of course,
many of those people are involved in groups, have web sites, and contribute to
zines, etc. And so that's an important part of hacker culture as well.
Stories and memories are what keep things alive. A well known hacker may decide
to quit the scene, but they'll forever be remembered by alias and/or by name
by the many people that remain active in it. They'll also be survived by the
things they wrote during their time in the h/p scene. The same goes for hacker
groups and zines. They may be retired, but they'll still exist electronically.
They'll still be remembered by people, if they were memorable to begin with.
Hell, there are several 1980s groups that people still talk about today, and
zines from that era that are still read. They don't just disappear and fall
into the abyss. They don't fade away that quickly and easily. Hacker culture
survives from generation to generation. And that's actually a good thing. We
shouldn't allow the past to just be forgotten. It's important to document and
preserve the past. Credit should be duly given to anyone that does that.
Why does hacker culture, and the past survive? The simple answer is, it's
difficult to kill a legend. For example, a group that receives a lot of
publicity, notoriety, and is involved in many well known events, scandals,
rumours, has members part of famous hacks, crackdowns, busts, and whatever
else is bound to be the topic of many conversations. Hype about them is
inevitably created. Stories are told and retold. They're passed from person
to person, and their name survives. The members might move on to different
things, but their association with a long lasting group isn't severed. The
same goes with certain popular zines. The editors become linked to that zine.
The mere mention of their alias automatically makes you think of the zine that
they created, or were the editor of. They go hand in hand. The same applies
to people that were involved with well known hacker groups. If someone says
that alias, you think of the group they were in. It's word association. In
some cases, you can't think of one without thinking about the other.
Here are a few things worth mentioning and commenting on:
LOD Communications started a project of documenting the history of many
underground hack/phreak boards in 1993. Although LOD wasn't able to gather
together as many complete message bases from all the boards they had hoped,
they did manage to put out quite a bit of very interesting, nostalgic material
from several well known boards from the 80s, such as Phoenix Project, Black Ice,
etc. And so, they did preserve some of that history, which is cool.
Jason Scott of www.textfiles.com fame has done an excellent job of preserving
files that might otherwise have been forever lost. He maintains a huge archive
of t-files, including those released by individuals, groups and has an extensive
collection of zines. Massive site... and massive props should go out to him
for the tremendous work he's put into it.
scene.textfiles.com also does a great service by providing information regarding
the release of new zines and new issues of zines, etc. Gotta get your ascii
fix. ;)
cDc (Cult of the Dead Cow) has been a fixture in the hacking scene since 1984.
Along the way, they've done a great deal to preserve the "old sk00l" scene,
and are still releasing ascii text cDc issues after all these years... which
is damn cool. To say the least, they have managed to bring the best of both
old and new together, into a fine blended mix. ;) In all seriousness, when
you think of t-files and electronic zines... how can you *not* think of and
mention cDc? They're so synonymous with each other, so interlinked that it
would be blasphemy to write an article on Hacker Culture, and fail to mention
Cult of the Dead Cow in it. But, in the interest of brevity, if you want
more insight on cDc... and its culture, read the interview in this issue with
G. Ratte'.
I decided to write this article because hacker culture really interests me.
In fact, I'm more interested in the culture than ever before... perhaps more
than all of the technical aspects of hacking, and latest techniques, etc.
To be honest, I'm not exactly sure of all of the reasons for finding it so
interesting. I just find it to be a fascinating culture. In terms of cultures,
it's a relatively new one. It has only been around for decades, and not
centuries. It's still changing and evolving at a rapid pace. It's still fresh
and exciting. And it has some of the most unique, strange, amazing characters
and personalities of any culture. Very few, if any, cultures have the diversity
in individuals, or true individuals for that matter, as this one. It is,
without a doubt, a culture of thinkers, inventors, innovators and engineers.
It's filled with brilliant people. If nothing else, hackers are a truly unique
group. They forge ahead, pressing technology forward, pushing the limits,
advancing their knowledge, even when faced with overly harsh legal consequences.
They've managed to accomplish a huge amount in the few short decades that the
world has had computers as a tool. Yes, that's right, computers are just a
tool. They don't inspire me to write, even though I use one to write and
distribute material with. So, there you have it; hacker culture without it
being written about by a paid journalist who's uninterested in it and doesn't
really give a fuck what it is, and how it is presented or preserved.
Written by BLACKENED / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
Democracy: Believe what I say.
Is that really democracy? What happened to the whole freedom of speech and
expression part of our Constitution? Well, the fact is, that doesn't seem
to mean shit these days. Political correctness has all but abolished people's
ability to accept that freedom means NOT ALWAYS FUCKING HEARING, READING AND
SEEING WHAT YOU WANT! Democracy is basically non-existent now though. What
about the good old US of A you say? What about the land of the free? Love it
or leave it right? There, I said it. That's what this is all about in a
sentence.
If you criticize a country, especially the one you live in, and others falsely
believe that it's free... and you disagree (as you should be your right to do
in a *free* country), they get all upset. Some of them become so enraged,
they'll start yelling and tell you to "get the fuck outta the country if you
don't like it." and use the old cliche of "USA: Love it or leave it." Yeah,
whatever. There's so much freedom that if you don't love it, or if you're
critical of parts of it, you're told to leave? Is that freedom? It's the old
dictatorship rule of, disagree with us and what we think and you're not welcome.
Well, not welcome could mean, executed in many cases. But, the same logic
applies. Is that the type of "democracy" you want to live in? A country in
which if you disagree with something, or are critical of a policy, or a
government, the popular opinion is that you're "anti-America" and thus, you
should leave? Do you want to be forced to leave? Honestly, I don't think
that's that far off. If many people had their way, that's how it'd be.
Is a "democracy" a place where everyone agrees? Is it a place where everyone
loves everything about it? Is it a place where if you disagree with a law or
a public policy, you're in the wrong? Is it a place where you're not supposed
to voice your opinions and views on things? Is that freedom?
If you want to be free, speak out. Make yourselves heard before it's too
fucking late. Make damn sure that freedom of speech means what it says.
Freedom doesn't mean thinking what you're told, and doing whatever you're told.
It means you have a right to your beliefs! Don't let anyone take that power
away and change the definition of freedom. And please, don't live under the
false assumption that your rights and freedoms are protected. They aren't.
Sad but true.
America deserves better than that type of ignorant attitude, which is about
following popular opinion. This country was *built on* differing opinions and
viewpoints. It was founded on freedom for the individual. But each and every
day, democracy is slipping away.
Written by Blackie Lawless / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
censorthisshit
Say that a few times really fast. Sounds like censorship doesn't it?
Marijuana is a gateway drug. Everything you know is a lie. The truth is out
there. Tomorrow is another day. Develop a taste for mainstreamness, pop
culture, cliches, consumerism, commercialism, advertisements and propaganda.
Stare blankly at your television screens. Those idiot boxes won't turn you into
zombies. They're just a tool. The medium is the message? @!#$ that. The
medium is electronic. But this is the message. The message is the message,
not the medium I'm using to send it out! However I choose to say something
doesn't become the message. The message *is* the message and *remains* the
message. The medium is inconsequential. The words are still mine. And the
message has the same meaning regardless of the medium used to broadcast it.
You can pretend propaganda doesn't exist. You can pretend hypocrisy doesn't
exist. You can pretend censorship doesn't exist. You can ignore it all. You
can pretend it doesn't bother you. You can be indifferent. You can be against
it in your mind, and be complacent. But the reality is, it does @!#$ing exist.
It's all around you. It has infiltrated every facet of your lives. It's
everywhere, around every corner of "society".
Some people claim to be above it. Some proclaim themselves to be
anti-censorship, and yet they censor what others write in the forums on their
web sites. Hypocrisy and censorship aren't just in a marriage of convenience,
they're soul mates.
Some people boldly claim they're against propaganda and aren't influenced by
it. They pretend it doesn't affect them. They're living a lie, thinking they
don't believe propaganda, and can always distinguish it from the truth. The
fact is, you can't. Not always. No one can. Our minds aren't wired that way.
Every piece of information you take in can be analyzed and stored, but we don't
have filters to remove all the propaganda we're continually being fed. It's
only natural that some of it is absorbed, believed as truth, and stored for
future reference. And so, it exists in your mind. Once there, it can be spread
further. Think of it as being a time bomb. Tick. Tick.
Of these things, censorship is probably the easiest to fight. Well, at least
in western nations. In countries such as China, it is obviously much more
difficult to combat, as the stakes are a lot higher, and the people actively
involved in campaigns that oppose censorship are pursued vigorously and
imprisoned. We don't have that threat hanging over our heads here, yet.
Therefore, we should do even more to fight against it. Think of it as a
struggle for freedom. Not just for freedom of speech, but for the freedom of
all ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and expression.
Why must we battle against the proliferation of censorship? Personally, I don't
want to live in a "society" that actively promotes restrictions and limitations.
I don't want to be controlled, and have my words controlled. Many substances
are already controlled by governments already...
Ahhhhhh... @!#$ history and culture and truth and freedom. It's all @!#$ing
@!#$ed up and @!#$ anyway right?
Do you know what would be really cool? We should try to eliminate words
entirely. You know, like in Orwell's novel, 1984. Without the words, people
couldn't speak out. Hell, people wouldn't even be able to think dissident
thoughts anymore. Thoughts would be censored. Everyone would be kept in check.
We'd all be the same, thinking and talking the same. Sameness would be the
order of the day. Sameness would rule. Big Brother would be victorious. And
the zombies could all live in @!#$ing ignorant bliss.
That isn't the type of world I want to live in, where words are chosen for you,
changed for you, and your speech is at someone else's discretion. What you say
should be how you want it said. What you want to expression should be the way
you want to express it. Yes, that's idealistic. But so @!#$ing what! Once
censorship takes hold and becomes the accepted way, you'll soon see more than
"swear" words and "slang" disappearing from the vernacular. You will many
limitations put on languages, and our means of expression ourselves verbally
will be restricted by virtue of less choice in vocabulary. And I say, @!#$
that! My thoughts and words are my own and will remain that way.
It's so @!#$ing ignorant to tell someone else how to express themselves. And
saying that swearing and using obscenities is a sign of ignorance, is even
worse. The old holier than thou, judgmental attitude. The "I'm better than
you" or "I'm above you" @!#$. @!#$ that. @!#$ it. @!#$ it all.
Written by BLACKENED . Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
You Can Hack Their Computers, But Can You Hack Their Minds?
By: Yogini Bare (hermes23w@disinfo.net)
Sure, hackers are a breed above because as long as they're hackers, they haven't
been caught, and as long as they haven't been caught they've got something up on
the system. Hacking is an evolutionary response to a system that doesn't work, a
force preying off of the system and evolving with it like any living organisms.
It's a relationship that depends on opposition, but the hacking/phreaking
communities wouldn't have a rallying point if not for the corrupt and decadent
meglo-monopolies that crowd out competition that isn't smarter, faster, and more
willing to operate outside the box. Nor would the mainstream have a decent
incentive for growth if it weren't for those people testing the limits of
established technological boundaries. The mutual struggle for the upper hand
sharpens the skills of hackers and mainstream techies alike. The question I pose
to the counterculture is though: Do we try so hard to oppose something that we
end up becoming it?
It's a normal scenario; the story of the undercover cop who gets to liking the
perks of the underworld or, on the opposite extreme, the ex-SLA bomber who
turned into a well-to-do socialite (until the Feds caught up with her).
Immersion is a common way to influence people because humans tend to adapt to
their surroundings, especially under the pressure of threatening situations. It
can be a situation where a person becomes assimilated into their surroundings to
"fit in" or reduce hostility, or it could be the immersion of a hacker
who studies their prey until they identify with it more than themselves. Either
way, pressure like that triggers the natural response of adaptation. That means,
the people now running ahead of the sociological pack are most vulnerable to the
influence of immersion for the very reason that they are most suited to
adaptation. Arrest can ruin a hacker for life, can take the spark of perpetual
evolution out of them because they learn quickly what the system can do with its
brute bully power. If those who are running ahead of everything choose to look
back, they have a good chance of being absorbed back into the very complacency
they were trying to get away from.
I propose we move forward.
It very well might be that Bill Gates is the most successful hacker to date
because by the time the government caught on to what he was doing, Micro$oft was
too big to stop. Windows software has pervaded a lot of the computers in the
world just like any virus out there. The difference between it and what we would
traditionally think of as a virus is that Microsoft is predominantly a virus of
the mind, whereas what hackers cook up is only a virus for the electronics.
People want what ol' Billy has, but the resistance people put up to a virus
makes the difference between a jail cell and the Microsoft mansion.
By packaging ideas in a way that makes people want it, you serve yourself as
well as everybody else. To the masses, if it looks like a duck and sounds like a
duck, then it's a little quacker and they'll accept it. However, inside the duck
you can put anything you want because its only a facade to get your ideas in.
Put a candy coating on LSD and mark a little "M" on the front and
people might actually go for it. Its effective because it opens up the holes in
peoples' heads so you can cram a little crap into them- without the chance of
getting your balls handed to you by the Feds because the system had recognized
you as a threat. Come on, isn't the whole revolt against the system because that
system has overspecialized and doesn't work? Why just stick to tech when a
combination of it and other skills would work better? We can be smart enough
that no one evens knows its hacking.
Imagine what could happen if instead of fighting something, you changed what
made you want to fight it all together. If you hacked into mass beliefs and made
them evolve, made them want to change, where would you be then?
Better ask ol' Billy...
REPORTS FROM THE FRONT - {REPORTS}
Propaganda reports delivered directly to your screen.
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CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
Internet Pioneer Sees Web becoming even better
Ten years after he created the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee is nurturing it
into a gigantic brain, where databases get smarter and work together to solve
problems.
Berners-Lee terms it "the Semantic Web." To him, it's the second half of the
information revolution.
The Web is, of course, far from a finished product.
"It's still got lots and lots of room for evolution, expansion and enhancement,"
said Vinton Cerf, an Internet pioneer. "It's still very much in its infancy."
The Semantic Web is all about making more kinds of data easier for computers to
process -- and to locate. For instance, many databases have a column called
zip, which could refer to a U.S. postal code or a file stored in dot-zip format.
By adding meaning to those columns, computers can do a better job of searching
for information.
"Imagine then, if you extend it to all the tables publicly available in the
world, you can see it is very powerful," Berners-Lee said.
Such an approach could help computers understand that an automobile in
Massachusetts includes a car in Boston. Today, searching for autos in
Massachusetts might not produce the Boston car.
"The problems with search engines now is they don't understand any of the data
or information," he said.
But a smarter search engine is only a beginning. "It will automate all kinds of
things, and really the reason that you can't imagine it now is it will create
things you don't have now."
The Web consortium that Berners-Lee heads is currently building the blocks for
the Semantic Web.
At the base is the emerging extensible markup language, or XML, a way of tagging
information with hidden codes to enrich data on the Web and allow software to
automatically process instructions where human intervention was previously
required.
XML is only the first of several building blocks that make the Semantic Web
work, however. Other components include vocabulary, logic and validation.
Associated Press
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Friday December 22 9:35 AM ET
Egghead.com: Hackers Tap Into Systems
MENLO PARK, Calif. (Reuters) - Internet retailer Egghead.com Inc. (NasdaqNM:EGGS
- news) on Friday said that a hacker had accessed its computer systems, possibly
its customer database, and it is now taking steps to protect its customers'
credit card accounts and the security of the site.
The Menlo Park, Calif., company, which sells computer hardware, software and
other home and office products via the Internet (http://www.egghead.com), said
in a statement that it has retained an unnamed computer security firm to conduct
an investigation and inspect its security procedures.
Egghead did not say how it learned of the security breach. Nor did it say
whether any fraudulent purchases had been made or if any customer accounts had
been tampered with. Company representatives could not immediately be reached for
comment.
``As a precautionary measure,'' Egghead said in the statement, ``we have taken
immediate steps to protect our customers by contacting the credit card companies
we work with.
``They are in the process of alerting card issuers and banks so that they can
take the necessary steps to ensure the security of cardholders who may be
affected,'' it said, adding that it is also working with law enforcement
authorities, who are conducting a criminal investigation.
Copyright (C) 2000 Yahoo! Inc., and Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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December 20, 2000 8:16am
Kriz virus makes return appearance
By Robert Lemos ZDNet News
Kriz, a year-old computer virus, may be coming back for Christmas this year,
thanks to its ability to piggyback on other viruses and spread with them.
The Kriz virus, also known as the W32.Kriz, is based on the CIH virus, which
damaged computers worldwide when it was triggered on April 26, 1998. Anti-virus
software maker Symantec on Tuesday warned users to scan their computers before
Christmas and released a free tool to scan for the virus and remove it.
"Worms by their nature propagate pretty quickly," said Marian Merritt, group
product manager for Symantec. "And when they get on a computer with Kris, they
start spreading that."
Symantec and other anti-virus software already scan for the virus in their
stand-alone programs.
The Kriz virus spreads to a computer when the user opens up an infected file,
changing the basic program that runs the operating system, known as the kernel.
The virus also infects other programs on the computer's hard drive and any
mapped drives, leaving open the possibility that the virus could travel across
company networks.
Unhappy holiday
"Remember," said Symantec's Merritt. "It may have spread itself to all your
executables, but you are only a carrier of the virus. The real payload hits on
December 25."
When the virus triggers, it overwrites all files on the computer and then
attempts to erase the software foundation of the PC, known as the basic
input-output system, or BIOS. While the BIOS attack only occasionally works, the
other attacks can be extremely destructive.
Symantec-rival Trend Micro Inc. believes the virus would not spread very far,
but warns that its ability to combine with other viruses could change that.
Both Trend and Symantec reported that the virus has infected two other worms:
Happy99.worm -- also known as W32.Ska -- and W32.hllw.bymer.worm.
Slow, but steady
"Kriz is a destructive virus, but a really slow infector," said Joe Hartmann,
anti-virus researcher for Trend. "Yet, it's now infected a mass-mailer, so now
you have a destructive virus that's also a mass mailer." In the past 24 hours,
Kriz ranked No. 8 on Trend's Worldwide Virus Tracking Center in terms of how
many files the virus had infected. The tracking center is a real-time database
of the types of viruses found by the Trend's online House Call scanner.
In North America, the virus ranked No. 6 for file infected. Despite that, the
virus has not spread very widely yet, and is known to have infected about 50
computers in the last 24 hours. Because the tracking center only tracks viruses
that have infected users of Trend's online service, the actual number could be
much greater.
Historians take heed, however.
The Kriz virus is essentially a copy of the CIH virus, which was created in 1997
by Cheng Ing-Hau of Taiwan. CIH fizzled in its first year, and a variant that
struck every month died out quickly. However, the annual variant did
significantly more damage when it was triggered in April 1998.
Copyright (C) 2000 ZD Inc. ZDNet is a registered service mark of ZD Inc.
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InfoWorld names top 10 IT stories for 2000
From...
[InfoWorld]
by Elizabeth Heichler
(IDG) -- It was a year of failed dot-coms, mega mergers, love bugs and privacy
concerns. And it was a year that will not soon be forgotten by members of the
public -- or the IT community.
Here, in no particular order, are the top 10 IT news events of 2000.
Dot-com deathwatch
It turned out that old-economy values like sustainable business models --
offering products and services for which a reasonable number of people are
willing to pay money -- still hold true in the new economy. One after another,
companies that had burned through venture capital and IPO (initial public
offering) funds found that they couldn't go back to the well for more, and
without the cash they couldn't stay in business long enough to get money the
old-fashioned way, by earning it.
Music on the Net meets copyright law
Music available in digital form on the Internet emerged as a serious threat, not
just a theoretical worry, for the big record labels this year. Thanks in large
part to Napster's wildly popular service, free music-sharing on the Net exploded
from campus cult into courtrooms where industry lawyers tried to stuff the genie
back into the bottle. The lawsuit against Napster filed by the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) in December 1999, made headlines before
even coming to trial as the plaintiffs sought an injunction to shut down the
popular peer-to-peer song-swapping service. While that case won't come to trial
until next year, MP3.com lost its court battle with the RIAA in May.
Regardless of the outcome of the Napster lawsuit, the music industry is now
painfully aware that the Internet has changed its business model forever.
Love Bug virus
May 4 was a bad day for systems administrators. Years of being told by the IS
department to be careful about opening e-mail attachments didn't prevent many
people from clicking on apparent "love letters," in many cases from senders
known to them. The virus-worm hybrid, which deleted victims' image files and hid
audio files, started its damage early in the day in Asia (turns out it
originated in the Philippines) and worked by using a Visual Basic script that
sent itself to all recipients in a victim's Microsoft Outlook address book, thus
spreading rapidly through businesses from East to West before IS staff were
aware of the threat. Security experts estimated that the Love Bug infected more
than half of U.S. large businesses and "tens of millions" of computers
worldwide. Prosecutors in the Philippines ultimately dropped charges against
Onel de Guzman, who was suspected of creating and disseminating the virus in
May, because the Department of Justice lacked a law under which it could charge
him.
FBI's Carnivore eats away at online privacy
A U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) technology, nicknamed "Carnivore,"
that the law-enforcement agency is using to uncover evidence in e-mail, raised
hackles among civil libertarians and privacy advocates when its existence came
to light this year. Carnivore, critics charge, doesn't meet guidelines governing
the use of wiretaps. Of particular concern are allegations that the software,
which the FBI has demanded be installed by some ISPs (Internet service
providers), is capable of capturing all unfiltered e-mail traffic, rather than
only e-mail going to people for whom the FBI has a wiretapping warrant. Last
month, an outside review of the technology showing that it does not overstep its
bounds was criticized as inadequate by privacy advocates.
UMTS auction gold rush in Europe
Like any good scheme, the first guys to hit on it got rich quick. But the folks
who came later to this money-making opportunity didn't have quite the same luck.
Who would have thought that offering licenses to telecommunication companies to
operate 3G (third-generation) mobile networks based on the UMTS (Universal
Mobile Telecommunications System) standard could be this lucrative for national
governments? First the U.K. extracted about $32 billion from four companies in
exchange for the privilege. Then the Germans cleaned up, getting $44.8 billion
in license fees. But things got messy in the Netherlands, where the state took
just $2.4 billion, and ugly in Italy. Analysts started to wonder how much of
this greed was good, and whether telecom companies would recoup these huge
investments. The Swedish government won praise for its bank-on-the-future rather
than take-the-money-and-run approach -- a modest administrative fee of about
$10,000 per applicant, but an annual tax on UMTS revenue of 0.15 percent.
Time for telecoms to shuffle the deck
For some, all that money spent in European UMTS auctions didn't help -- it
didn't make investors or bond-rating agencies happy. British Telecommunications
PLC's second-quarter profits reported last month were less than half the
previous year, thanks in part to the costs of acquiring licenses. The same day,
it announced a reorganization, following the example of both AT&T and Worldcom,
which both recently announced large scale organizational changes after seeing
their stock prices hammered. Worldcom President and Chief Executive Officer
Bernard Ebbers has had a rough year -- in June he had to drop his planned
acquisition of Sprint as both the European Union and the U.S. Department of
Justice apparently decided that some mega-mergers are just mega-anticompetitive.
AOL-Time Warner marries new media to old
Much earlier in the year, back in January, mega mergers were still in vogue and
new Internet money could still buy an institution like Time Warner. Based on the
$350 billion deal struck in January, America Online Inc. shareholders would own
55 percent of the new company, AOL Time Warner. Time Warner is the parent
company of CNN.com. The European Union has subsequently approved the deal, and
the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has now voted to unanimously approve it. The
merger still faces scrutiny by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which
experts suggest is a much lower hurdle for the companies to overcome. Executives
of the two companies had undoubtedly hoped the merger would be finalized earlier
since much has changed in the new -- and old -- media landscapes since they got
engaged in January.
L&H goes from poster child for European IT to poster child for bad behavior
For most of this year, Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV was the high-flying
voice technology company that Europeans could point to with pride as an example
of a home-grown yet industry-leading innovator in global IT. In March, L&H
solidified its leadership by agreeing to pay $592 million to buy out its U.S.
rival, Dragon Systems Inc. Then the bad news started to trickle out. In August,
a Wall Street Journal article raised allegations of accounting irregularities at
the company's Korean subsidiary. By September, the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission had begun an investigation of accounting practices. In November,
co-founders Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie stepped down from their positions as
co-chairmen and managing directors. By the end of the month the company's new
chairman and chief executive officer had filed for bankruptcy, saying that they
had uncovered evidence of financial misreporting and other questionable
financial transactions, and that the filing was their only hope for protection
from creditors and legal claimants and for cleaning up the mess they inherited.
As of this writing, the company's assets have been frozen by a Belgian court.
Microsoft loses big in antitrust case
While no one expects the Microsoft antitrust case to be resolved anytime soon,
the U.S. Department of Justice beat the software giant in round one, the trial
in U.S. District Court. In April, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson dropped the
first shoe: a conclusions of law finding that Microsoft maintained its monopoly
power by anticompetitive means and attempted to monopolize the Web browser
market in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Law.
In June, he kicked off the other loafer, ruling that Microsoft should be broken
into two companies and heavily regulated to stop its anticompetitive behavior.
Microsoft is appealing the decision, and the briefs are already flying in round
two. Will Microsoft even be relevant by the time the last court rules
definitively? Some industry observers see its influence waning.
Denial of service attacks hit the big time
In February, hackers drew attention to a form of Web site attack that's not
particularly elegant but effectively crippled some of the Web's biggest names,
including eBay, Amazon, CNN.com and Yahoo!, among others. These attacks worked
not by breaking into a target Web site but by overloading the router connecting
it to the rest of the Internet with so much fake traffic that it overloaded and
bonafide users were unable to connect to it. However, lots of systems did get
hacked to make this happen: thousands of unwitting users' systems had Trojans or
zombie software placed in them, which then launched the DoS attacks from those
machines. Computers most vulnerable to being used in DoS attacks are those that
are on and connected to the Internet all the time via high bandwidth access. A
Canadian teenager arrested in April for the DoS attack on CNN.com was considered
to be just a copy-cat, and the real masterminds of the February attacks may
never be caught. But the DoS threat is still real: anyone can get hit -- and it
can bring your online business grinding to a halt.
(C) 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
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Report: Serious concerns remain over FBI's 'Carnivore' system
By Daniel Sieberg
CNN.com Technology Editor
(CNN) -- A prominent group of computer experts have released a critical
assessment of a recent independent review of the FBI's Internet surveillance
system, sparking further debate over its privacy and technological limitations.
The new report addresses a review of the "Carnivore" system by the Illinois
Institute of Technology's Research Institute (IITRI), which released a draft
report on November 17.
Although the authors of the latest report acknowledge the "good-faith effort" on
behalf of the IITRI, it says the scope of their review was not broad enough to
address all the pertinent matters.
"Those who are concerned that the system produces correct evidence, represents
no threat to the networks on which it is installed, or complies with the scope
of court orders should not take much comfort from the analysis described in the
report or its conclusions," the experts wrote.
Participants in the new report are listed as Steven Bellovin and Matt Blaze from
the AT&T Laboratories, David Farber from the University of Pennsylvania, Peter
Neumann from SRI International and Eugene Spafford from Purdue University.
The Justice Department initially contacted members of the ad hoc group in
September.
Specific technical concerns noted by the scientists include a lack of analysis
between the Carnivore code and its host environment and operating system,
inadequate discussion of the remote access provided by the use of the "PC
Anywhere" program, and no evidence of a systematic search for bugs or serious
errors. "PC Anywhere" is an application that allows computer professionals or
employees to connect to a network from a remote location.
The scientists went on to urge the Justice Department to publish the inner
workings of Carnivore for a public review, a request that has also been
suggested by several privacy advocate groups.
Using "sniffing" technology, the Carnivore system is installed at an Internet
service provider (ISP) to keep court-ordered tabs on a suspect's e-mail and
instant messages. It has already been used more than 25 times during criminal
investigations.
The FBI spokesman associated with Carnivore said the whole purpose of making the
IITRI draft report available for public scrutiny was to solicit opinion from
outside groups. He could not comment on how the scientists' information might be
applied.
When correctly used, the IITRI said Carnivore "provides investigators with no
more information than is permitted by a given court order."
A final report on Carnivore by the IITRI should be presented to U.S. Attorney
General Janet Reno later this month.
(C) 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FBI's 'Carnivore' spurs new e-mail cloaking programs
By Richard Stenger
CNN.com Writer
(CNN) -- As the debate rages over the FBI's e-mail surveillance system known as
"Carnivore," people are looking for new ways to protect the privacy of their
online messages. A few computer companies are offering solutions, but will they
work and will people use them?
The FBI's decision to outfit Internet Service Providers with hidden "black
boxes" to monitor the e-mail of criminal suspects has raised serious concerns
among ISPs and electronic privacy advocates.
In response, NetworkICE last week released a free, open source code alternative
to the secret FBI program called Altivore, which the computer security company
said would allow ISPs a less restrictive alternative than federal oversight.
Electronic freedom advocates have suggested that non-Carnivore clones would
satisfy the FBI, as long ISPs could provide the desired information about
criminal suspects.
Some Internet security computers have begun marketing what they call innovative
software that can circumvent programs like Carnivore.
AbsoluteFuture Inc. promises businesses the ability to send e-mail "without
leaving a data trace anywhere. E-mails ... self-destruct and vanish without a
trace from their hard drives and the hard drives of their recipients," said Anne
Taylor, a spokeswoman for the company.
Tony McNamara, chief technology officer of the company, said its product
SafeMessage counteracts Carnivore by eliminating readable headers from e-mail
messages. The FBI program cannot detect the e-mail without them, he said.
Other e-mail security products have stepped up marketing in the wake of the
Carnivore debate as well.
"I know that one company has taken out a lot of advertisements," said Robert
Graham, chief technology officer NetworkICE and the creator of Altivore.
Graham said he made Altivore not to sell but to make two points: that ISPs
should regulate themselves and that the Carnivore program is technologically
unremarkable.
Similarly, he said any new product that promises to circumvent Carnivore likely
doesn't represent a major advance.
"E-mail cloaking has been around for awhile. There will always be ways that
people can evade e-mail detection systems," he said.
Private e-mailers have had access for years to cloaking applications like Pretty
Good Privacy, or PGP, an open source code used to encrypt e-mails, or others
that use anonymous relays to hide the tracks of e-mail correspondences.
But such features are generally difficult or inconvenient to use, which has
discouraged their widespread use, according to Graham.
"I won't be impressed by these programs until people use them," he said.
McNamara said SafeMessage does require the use of a password. And both the
sender and receiver must have the software. But, he said the product is easier
to use than typical e-mail applications.
McNamara said it was not meant to encourage illegal activity. His company would
comply fully with authorities during any investigation.
Using court orders, the FBI controls Carnivore from a remote location to monitor
and retrieve e-mail messages of criminal suspects. It has been used in about 25
investigations in the last year, including criminal cases and "national
security" cases involving counter-intelligence or counter-terrorism.
The FBI and the Justice Department maintain that strict oversight by the courts
would prevent abuses of the system. The pledge has failed to assure electronic
privacy activists that only legitimate uses would take place.
(C) 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
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Mafiaboy arrested again
Canadian teen charged in attacks on high-profile Web sites
By Will Knight, ZDNet UK
Dec. 7 - The teenager alleged to have jammed some of the largest sites on the
Internet earlier this year has been arrested in Canada for violating his bail.
THE 16-YEAR-OLD alleged hacker, who cannot be named under Canadian law but uses
the online moniker “Mafiaboy”, was originally arrested 19 April, accused of
launching distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on CNN, eBay, Yahoo! and
others in February.
Mafiaboy has again been arrested by Montreal police for violating bail by
playing truant from high school, according to the Associated Press.
A DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack takes an old hacking trick to a
new level. By taking over an army of remote machines connected to the Internet,
an assailant is able to bombard a site with a tidal wave of fake requests that
is impossible to stop.
The FBI arrested Mafiaboy after investigating chat room logs and computers at
the University of California.
(C) 2000 ZD Inc. All Rights Reserved. ZDNet and
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Web server hacked
Company says attacker broke in, but server was nearly empty
By Bob Sullivan
MSNBC
Nov. 6 - Microsoft on Monday confirmed reports that a computer attacker was able
to hack into one of its Web servers. But according to spokesperson Adam Sohn,
the break-in was limited to a single server that was in the process of being
retired, and it did not pose a risk to Microsoft's main servers.
THE BREAK-IN WAS first reported by the IDG News Service. According to the
report, a Dutch hacker named "Dimitri" took advantage of a bug that was patched
by Microsoft on Oct. 17 - the so-called Unicode vulnerability.
(MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.)
The Web server that was hacked, events.microsoft.com, had essentially no content
on it and is used merely to redirect visitors to another Web server, Sohn said.
Microsoft had not yet applied its patch to the server.
"Obviously we like to stay on top of these things," Sohn said. "But it's a
challenge when you have a large, complex network....This one slipped through the
cracks."
[Slipped through the cracks... Classic. That's priceless.]
According to IDG, the attacker was able to temporarily upload a small text file
onto events.microsoft.com, and claimed to have downloaded files containing
administrative user names and passwords to the server.
Sohn said the company believed those passwords would only have allowed access to
the individual Web server that was attacked, and could not be used to attack
other parts of Microsoft's network.
Friday's break-in occured one week after a much more serious breach of
Microsoft's network was announced. In late October, Microsoft revealed an
attacker had managed to plant a Trojan horse on company systems. The company
called it an act of "corporate espionage," and publicly speculated that source
code for its more popular programs may have been stolen.
Sohn said the two break-ins were completely unrelated.
"Comparing them would be like comparing apples and oranges," he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SafeNet 2000
By Gene Johnson
The Associated Press
R E D M O N D,
Wash., Dec. 8 - For the next generation of the Internet to thrive, people must
be able to trust it, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told computer experts at a
conference on improving Internet privacy and security.
Gates delivered the keynote address Thursday at SafeNet 2000, a two-day summit
of 225 privacy and security experts at Microsoft's suburban campus. He touted
the next version of his company's Windows operating system, which will have the
ability to inform customers when Web-based companies have different ideas about
privacy than they do.
[Gates addressing security... What next, Larry Flynt preaching?]
"As you go to these different Web sites, you ought to be able to know what the
policy of that Web site is," Gates said.
[And what about the sites you own and operate Billy?]
"It is more important than ever that our industry gives customers the assurance
that their information will remain secure, respected and private."
[*dies laughing* at the hypocrisy in Bill Gates saying that.]
Focus on Security and Privacy Microsoft called the summit to determine what
people have learned so far about the young fields of Internet security and
privacy, and to figure out what the information technology industry needs to do
next.
Gates said that for now, self-regulation is key. While government should have a
role in responding when companies misuse customer data, Gates said, it's too
soon for government to code privacy standards into law because the field could
change greatly over the next year.
In the meantime, companies must make software that helps customers use the Net
without compromising private information, such as credit card numbers, Gates
said. Web sites should also state clearly how they use data gathered from
customers and should have programs that automatically fix weaknesses that could
be exploited by hackers, he said.
[Always with the hackers Gates. Always talkin' about hackers. Snip...]
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notorious or Desperate?
Economic Woes Encourage Fabled
"Khackeri"
By Jim Heintz
The Associated Press
M O S C O W, Nov. 20 - While the international space station brings new renown
to Russia, the nation is gaining a darker sort of notice from other explorers -
hackers who launch into cyberspace.
Russia's reputation as home to some of the world’s most gifted and devious
hackers was underscored last month when Microsoft Corp. disclosed that passwords
used to access its coveted source code had been sent from the company network to
an e-mail address in St. Petersburg.
It is by no means clear whether a Russian was behind the break-in — that e-mail
account could have been managed remotely. But that doesn't stop Russian hackers
- "khakeri," or "vzlomshchiki (house-breakers)" - from puffing out their chests
at such exploits.
Bragging Rights?
In a recent poll on a hacker-oriented Web site, 82 percent said Russia had the
world's best hackers; only 5 percent said Americans were better.
But the bravado is laced with frustration.
Hackers are motivated as much by a lack of opportunity in economically
struggling Russia as by criminal leanings, people inside and outside the hacker
community say.
Sergei Pokrovsky, editor of the magazine Khaker, said that hackers in his circle
have skills that could bring them rich salaries in the West, but they expect to
earn only about $300 a month working for Russian companies.
Russian higher education traditionally has been strong in mathematics, a skill
at the core of hacking, but the Russian market offers few employment
opportunities to such knowledgeable people, said Mikko Hypponen, manager of
anti-virus research at the Finnish company F-Secure.
"They have too much time on their hands," said Hypponen, whose company highly
values the Russian computer experts it employs.
Russians have been behind several high-profile - and sometimes highly lucrative
- hacking cases. There was the cyberthief known as "Maxus" who stole credit-card
numbers from Internet retailer CD Universe earlier this year and demanded a
$100,000 ransom. When denied the money, he posted 25,000 of the numbers on a Web
site. Maxus was never caught.
Mathematician Vladimir Levin was caught and in 1998 was sentenced to three years
in prison in Florida for a stunning invasion of the Citibank system in which he
pilfered $12 million by transferring digital dollars out of the bank's accounts.
Russians are also believed to be behind the 1998 theft of Global Positioning
System software, used for missile-targeting, from U.S. military computers.
Victims as Well as Perps
Russian companies occasionally fall victim to hackers, too. Last year, hackers
got into the computers of Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly that also
supplies much of Europe and took brief control of the central supply
switchboard; officials wouldn't say whether there were service disruptions.
Incidents of avarice and meddling in critical computer systems have raised
concern that some hackers who hail from Russia are affiliated with its extensive
organized-crime groups.
Pokrovsky, for one, rejects such speculation.
"Nonsense, complete nonsense," he said. "For example, I personally know Maxus
and he isn't in any crime group. He's a very good specialist who understands
systems very well."
The psychology of hackers can be as elusive as their identities, however. Of
course some say their actions are just an offshoot of exuberance, that they are
chiefly benign interlopers.
Take the hacker known online as NcRoot. He says his first name is Alexander and
that he's a 17-year-old student interested in Web site design.
"Sure, there may be people who do this for the sake of money and who have small
salaries," he wrote in response to e-mailed questions, saying he believed most
Russian hackers do it for the challenge of exposing security flaws.
"Fix in your mind, we just want to help you," a hacker group wrote to the
Webmaster of an online music site they hacked into this year. NcRoot was among
the hackers.
Trying to Assess Economic Damage While it's impossible to estimate the economic
damage Russian hackers may inflict through theft and mischief, indicators
suggest the sums are enormous. Many of the Internet's so-called "warez" sites,
in which pirated computer software is made available, are set up by Russians.
A study by the Business Software Alliance, an international industry trade
group, said that in 1999, pirates cost software makers $165 million in
legitimate revenues. The study said 89 percent of business software distributed
in Russia that year was pirated.
Law enforcement efforts have been weak. The Interior Ministry division
specializing in computer crimes said this year that 200 arrests were made in the
first three months of the year, up from just 80 in all of 1998. But that rise
could reflect increased police effectiveness rather than a growth in crimes. "It
means we are getting better and better," said Anatoly Platonov, spokesman for
the Interior Ministry's "Division R," which handles computer crimes. Platonov
did not provide many specifics, however, such as how many people work for the
computer-crimes division.
[snip...]
Hypponen said Russian hackers need to be concerned about negative stereotypes.
Although his company has recruited workers from the Russian talent pool, "some
customers are uneasy about having development done by Russians," he said.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suspected Hacker Arrested Minn. Man Allegedly Hacked Into Nuke Lab Computers
The Associated Press
S A N F R A N C I S C O,
Sept. 12 - A man suspected of hacking into a computer at a nuclear weapons
laboratory last year was arrested Monday. Benjamin Breuninger, 21, was taken
into custody by federal agents at his Minnesota home on a charge of unauthorized
access of a protected computer and recklessly causing damage.
He was released Monday on $25,000 bail after appearing in federal court in
Minneapolis. No plea was entered. Prosecutors are working to bring him to
California.
He was indicted Friday by a federal grand jury in Oakland for breaking into a
computer at the Lawrence Livermore laboratory run by the University of
California.
"Fortunately, he didn't access secret or classified government documents, but he
did gain access to the lab's administrative network and disrupted the use of
it," said FBI spokesman Andrew Black.
The two November hacking incidents caused an estimated $50,000 in damage and
took about a week to fix, Black said.
A public defender representing Breuninger said his client has no criminal
history.
"But since this happened almost a year ago, it appears to me that this wasn't a
dire national emergency that needed an immediate response," Scott Tilsen said.
"If it was a significant crime, I don't think he would have walked right out of
court."
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Mafiaboy' granted bail
WebPosted Tue Dec 19
17:27:21 2000
MONTREAL - The Montreal teenager accused of being 'Mafiaboy' has been granted
bail again. He is waiting to go on trial for allegedly hacking into major
international Web sites.
The teen had been in jail for two weeks because he broke bail conditions by
misbehaving at school.
He regained his freedom when a court heard that he has left school and plans to
hold down a full-time job.
The teen has pleaded not guilty to 66 computer-hacking and mischief charges. His
trial will begin on March 5.
Copyright (C) 2000 CBC. All Rights Reserved
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Sascha Segan
[ABCNEWS.com]
Oct. 27 - Someone broke into Microsoft's network and accessed the basic codes
for the company's latest software, Microsoft president Steve Ballmer said today.
"They did in fact access the source codes," Ballmer said from Stockholm, Sweden.
"You bet this is an issue of great importance. I can also assure you that we
know that there has been no compromise of the integrity of the source codes,
that it has not been tampered with in any way."
But malicious hackers don't need to tamper with the source codes to use them to
create destructive software, experts said. (The source code is the basic
blueprint of a piece of software, allowing programmers to disassemble it and use
its parts elsewhere.)
Owners of current Microsoft products have nothing to worry about, according to
the company, but the break-in may make future products more vulnerable to
attacks.
"The hacker appears to have obtained some source code for the development of
future products," Microsoft spokesman Rick Miller said.
[And what's wrong with that?]
Industrial Espionage?
The circumstances of the break-in are, right now, mysterious. Microsoft is
working with the FBI to track down the culprits and said none of their currently
on-the-market software has been corrupted.
The incursion was discovered on Wednesday, Miller said, but the attackers may
have had access to Microsoft systems for a considerable period of time -
something under three months.
"We consistently monitor our networks looking for any irregularities on the
network, and this was discovered as something that struck us as odd," he said.
Oliver Roll, senior director of Microsoft in the United Kingdom, said he didn't
know who had broken in, or why.
Microsoft wouldn't comment on which future products were affected. Competitors
could theoretically use the code to steal features from the new products, and
malicious hackers could use it to design viruses or other programs that exploit
unpublicized security flaws.
"Industrial espionage takes many forms. It could be someone with a big ego; it
could also be someone that wants to copy our software; it could also be someone
that wants to use our software in their own software," Roll said. The Wall
Street Journal reported in today’s editions that Microsoft passwords had been
sent to St. Petersburg, Russia. Microsoft declined to comment on that report.
Attackers, Not Competitors
Computer experts said the code wouldn't be of much use to competitors. It's just
too high-profile. Anyone trying to blackmail Microsoft, to sell illegal copies
or to use parts of the code in their own products would probably get run to
ground by Microsoft and the FBI, said Graham Cluley of British antivirus company
Sophos.
"You could try and write a competing product, but even that is very risky,"
he said.
But the code could be of use to computer attackers. A top security consultant
with the firm @Stake, known by the hacker name Weld Pond, said it wasn't
uncommon for hackers to steal and circulate source code.
"Source code circulates in the underground all the time. I have heard of source
code for [Sun's] Solaris and some of those other [operating systems]
circulating," he said.
The danger is that malicious hackers could write new viruses or other programs
based on unpublicized flaws in the code. They could even build components that
look exactly like Microsoft programs - like the Windows calculator or Notepad,
say - but secretly do damage or open up back doors in computers.
That's one point raised by advocates of 'open source' software like the Linux
operating system, where everyone can have access to the source code. With a
world's worth of programmers looking at the code, few weaknesses go unnoticed
and unfixed, Linux partisans say.
Well-Known Attack
Right now, nobody's quite clear on how the hackers got into
the network.
Knowledgeable sources in the computer security industry said the QAZ Trojan was
involved. A well-known threat that anti-virus companies have been tracking since
August, QAZ appears as an attachment to an e-mail. When a user opens the
attachment, QAZ replaces the Windows Notepad with a copy of itself and opens a
'back door' into the computer that hackers can access.
The problem is, all popular recent antiviral software protects against QAZ,
Cluley said. Microsoft says that they update their antiviral software every day.
QAZ also can't get through a properly configured firewall, which would block the
back door.
Microsoft refused to comment on whether employees could turn off antiviral
software, but said it's against company policy to do so. Miller said he didn't
know whether the company's firewall blocks port 7597, the back door QAZ uses.
Ironically, QAZ was written with Microsoft's own Visual C++ development program,
antiviral company F-Secure said.
How'd They Do It?
Weld Pond said a modified form of QAZ may have been used, or the program may
have been lurking in Microsoft's system since before August. Other experts have
speculated that a Microsoft employee may have turned off antivirus software on
an office PC.
Perhaps QAZ was on an unsecured laptop computer outside Microsoft's physical
network, and that's how the hackers got the passwords, Cluley speculated.
Microsoft officials, for their part, aren't saying.
"If it was just one laptop of one guy on the road, maybe his anti-virus wasn't
up to date, naughty him," Cluley said.
Microsoft does allow access to its internal network from 'off-campus' laptops,
Miller said, but he added that the company considered that access to be secure.
Common Target
Microsoft is a common target for malicious hackers and virus writers. Their
products are used by more than 90 percent of U.S. PC users, so anyone seeking
notoriety goes after their software. And they're widely hated by the hacker
community for what hackers say are secretive, unfriendly and monopolistic
business practices.
Microsoft officials said they're stepping up security efforts.
[Step it up a notch!]
"We are implementing an aggressive plan to protect our internal corporate
network from unauthorized attempts to gain access," the company said in a
statement.
[See what I mean. They've got a plan already... Wait, did they actually say
anything up above?]
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Copyright (C)2000 ABC News Internet Ventures.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHTS, POEMS AND CREATIVE WRITING - {WRITING}
Crazy, entropic rants & writings.
"With poetry I paint the pictures that hit. More like the murals that fit.
Don't turn away, get in front of it." - Freedom, by Rage Against the Machine.
Animal Cage.
(A brief pseudo-scientific analysis of how the social cycle of
Revolution-Prosperity-War-Dominance-Decay-Fascism-Totalitarianism is repeating
itself in America)
The US Constitution grants almost unlimited rights to private property owners,
thereby creating a society free from the oppressive tyranny of a coercive
government. At the time of the document's drafting, this was a revolutionary
notion, one that forever altered the social landscape. The framers in effect
paved the way for postmodern global expansion, as it freed economies from the
authority of the state and allowed for the advent of worldwide markets and free
trade. However, the power shift from the government to individuals (who are the
market) has perhaps tilted too far to the individual's side, because our present
system grants nearly unlimited power to trans-national corporations. These
monetary megaliths have the capacity to buy, sell, and trade governments if they
so choose, not to mention little ol' human beings like you and I. This is a
radical statement, sure, but never the less it's the situation we're in. Can
bloated corporate empires manipulate us? Of course, they do so all the time.
Only holed-up paranoids and hermits are free from the tentacles of corporate
propaganda. And indeed, this ubiquitous manipulation constitutes a subtle form
of enslavement, because it attempts to shackle our minds by limiting our desires
to the goods the manipulators produce. Our subtle enslavement can't compare to
what the citizens of brutal dictatorships are subjected to, we've surely been
blessed with the lesser of two evils. However, because I believe the system can
be changed, we should see our imprisoners as enemies to be defeated. Don't
doubt for a minute that our enemies would resort to the same sort of brutality
that tyrants have employed throughout history, they're essentially the same
minds. The corporations derive their power from us, so they want to keep us
happy. And herein lies the problem: most people are too hypnotized in their
cushioned comfort to realize that the course of their lives are being chosen for
them.
It's a scary thought, the balance of power has damn near toppled into the laps
of the populous but has been sapped up by a few individuals (and amusingly, the
freedom meme still persists, as most people believe they are independent minded
and well-informed. Don't forget, the Christian Church used the same paradoxical
lures of freedom to attract the unsuspecting into their misery trap). So, a
sophisticated system- designed to promote freedom and common welfare- has been
reversed, heaping unlimited power onto a fascist oligarchic regime of
multinationals. I wonder what Jefferson would say about this? And I wonder how
loud Orwell would laugh.
Now I realize this is a brash claim, and I certainly haven't researched it
enough to call it a legitimate one. But, generally speaking, I believe this
trend is obvious. In fact, it's a natural extension of our system. If there is
a way to stop or even reverse it, and I believe there is, then we must begin to
organize and educate ourselves so we'll be able to implement such changes. The
Internet is a perfect facilitator for organization, education, and open
discussion. This is where it all starts if we don't want it all to end in a
blaze or a moan. There are loads of resources buzzing around on the Info
Superhighway about brain change, mindfulness, and other methods of
self-awareness. These techniques are armor against the intrusive propaganda
known as advertising, mass media, and fashion trends (memetic engineering, in
other words). And all these institutions are under direct control of the
corporate empires. Facing the prospect of a new "Dark Age", our only
hope for salvation will be the very 'technology' that got us into this mess we
call civilization in the first place: writing.
Eventually, we have to think of how we will replace the current social paradigm.
Certainly, a mutation from autocratic top-down rule to a more systemic,
whole-istic model is in order. (For more info on social models, check out www.spiraldynamics.com)
How this new model will be structured and, more importantly, how it can be
implemented are our two main concerns, and hopefully advancements in computer
modeling will aid in our quest for effective social change. It's a common
misunderstanding that we're all doomed to repeat history, but this is only the
case when we mindlessly follow the social system that has been set up for us.
Our ancestors did it, those before them did it, and so on. This locks our
societies into patterns of behavior, which I've represented with the Orwellian
model. Like any addiction or behavior pattern it can only be overcome by
applying mindfulness, which means hard work. But I hardly consider a social
revolution 'work'. Ha.
How the Orwellian Cycle Has Manifested In American History (1750- Present)
1. Revolution/Implementation of New System- American Revolutionary period,
roughly 1750-1800.
2. Prosperity- American Industrial Expansion, roughly 1800-1950.
3. War- World Wars I and II (I know there were others…)
4. Dominance- post WWII: western hemisphere; post Cold War: global economic and
cultural domination.
5. Decay- post Cold War consumerist decadence.
6. Fascism- egoism, ignorance, reactionary mindsets, conspicuous consumption,
social darwinism.
7. Totalitarianism- total loss of independence, dictatorial corporate mind
control.
Currently we're somewhere between Decay and Fascism, though totalitarianism
doesn't seem too far off in the distance. Of course what follows
totalitarianism is Discontent, usually in underground intellectual circles. I
don't think we should wait till this shit gets out of hand to establish this
subculture.
Written by Horus (paranoid0android@disinfo.net)
The End of Truth.
This is the end. My only friend, the end.
This is the end. One last message to send.
We choose your thoughts. We tell you which ideas to believe.
We are your teacher. Trust what we say and we will not deceive.
We'll teach you good. We'll teach you well.
You learn quickly. We've saved you from truth hell.
We aren't your enemy. We aren't you foe.
We're your only friend. We'll tell you what you know.
Our intentions are honest. Our system is just.
Conformity is necessary. Full compliance is a must.
You will listen to us. You will always obey.
We are mother and father. So just do as we fucking say.
We'll give you morals. We'll give you your beliefs.
We're generous that way. You can live unburdened of grief.
This is our system. This is our way.
Our way is best. It must be implemented without delay.
Do not defy us. Do not ever speak out against us.
Head our warnings. Or you'll disappear, burned into dust.
We'll tell you what to like. We'll teach you who to hate.
We'll instruct you on right and wrong. We'll guide your fate.
This is all done in your best interests, for your own sake.
Those that oppose us will all be destroyed, and left in our wake.
The dissidents will tell you lies. They'll do anything to fool you.
But we'll be here to guide your path. And we'll always be true.
Listen to us! Hear our message! Watch our films! Trust!
It's all for you. There are no lies. There's no blood lust.
Everything is done for you. We'll think for you too.
Just follow our way. There's nothing else you must do.
The outsiders are out to destroy us. But we are strong.
We'll protect you. We'll shelter you in a place that you belong.
Just crawl into this cage. That's it. You're doing just fine.
Leave your principles and beliefs at the door. It's all on the sign.
We've outlined all of the rules. They're all easy to abide by.
But if you choose to ignore them, just remember that you will surely die.
Relinquish individuality. Give up your thoughts and ideas.
We'll think for you! Just do as the Minister of Propaganda does.
It's all very simple. It's a much easier way of life.
We handle all of the hard work. You can live easy, without any strife.
You're free to enjoy a clear mind. You're free of arguments.
There's no difference of opinions. There's only common sense.
You'll understand. You'll learn our doctrines.
You will fit in. You will only pay for your mistakes and your sins.
Free thoughts and ideas are a hindrance. They're a nuisance.
If we choose, we can make you whatever we want. We can force you to dance.
Pulling your strings you'll be our own little puppet.
That's right. Give in. Repeat after me when I say fuck it.
Indifference and complacency. We've found your weakness.
Come into the fold. Let our gentle, guiding hand be your last caress.
Our words are powerful. They're more powerful than the sword.
Individuals are weak. Obeying us is its own reward.
Do not choose to rebel. Do not try to fight this by thinking.
Conformity is right. It's as natural as breathing, eating and drinking.
You'll soon become accustomed. You'll soon believe the message.
Soon you'll be without fear. And you'll no longer have any rage.
We've done away with many things. We've decided to eliminate them.
They simply weren't necessary. And so, they've been condemned.
You won't even be shadows of your former selves. Not even ghosts.
Everything is owned by us now. Be thankful we're such gracious hosts.
Everything is being rewritten. With disinformation lurking around every corner.
Greetings my loyalist friends. Welcome to the New World Order.
Notes: This poem was inspired by several songs, including 'The End', by
The Doors and a few by Rage Against the Machine. It was obviously also inspired
by the propagandists and the propaganda corporations (the media) around the
world. Your powers to influence zombies are truly great.
Written by BLACKENED / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
Find the Zero.
1.
Make a fist, stare through it, motion as if to get its attention, as the soft
clatter of a rattlesnake makes its way up the spine of the unbeliever. Never
underestimate the intuition of mercy, but leave unharried the crocodile tears of
pity, as the no man's land burns with the fervor of an aging mystic aching to
experience the blessed virgin in a blasphemous way.... never look when this
happens it will embarrass your soft parchment sensibilities. A crack in the
skull of reality lets in rain through metaphysical trepanation as the soft hum
of the generator sighs against a trembling thigh in the disinfected fluorescent
scent of an evening outside of time
2.
Walk through the fist, slowly and with an even gait... you never know when your
heart will swallow you up. Tides of dust make the journey seem as long as the
time in the pining hours that you bottle, and turn into a potent but foul
smelling tincture that tastes of a bitter newsprint. It makes assaults on the
fist from the outside, moving in and putting up its feet, never leaving, but,
attracting the granules which feel like railroad ties lodged under the eyelid
in the clear mucus of the potential vision which you are uncertain you may or
may not be allowed to have.
3.
Swallow the fist in order to julienne the mundane, access binah consciousness
toll free, limitless numbers falling like a hail of frogs coming home late from
the ball, slime on the gowns, working towards a unity of prescription thought
embolisms. Now you are learning the secrets of consuming the living heart while
it beats tympani in the chest of others, while they stand there going to
purgatory, flaking into the dust which swirls in humble dervishes chanting into
ecstatic trances around their feet as their mouths hang open.
4.
Wave the fist, as it hums in transparent glee, a farce, a small joke among
compatriots. You have a strong sense of what you are searching for, the
listless whistling of the pre-siesta revelry, a holy man sings narrative words
like a mutated violin, sonorous, and in thick/thin tones. See/feel the vibration
of mundi, erstwhile nomad emotions roam on a thin bitter foam chord, humming
like a burnt out socket shorting in the rain of years, you feel the transparent
glee in a fascinated patience, for the coming showdown on the glass trauma plain
makes you want to sing.
Written by Art Savage.
An Unexpected Bloom
"These are for you, " she said, handing me a single stalk of white
stars wrapped in the wings of angels . You could tell that they had been cut
maybe only an hour ago; still so firm, and the pollen had not yet formed on some
of the flowers yet. There were four of them in all - the oldest two at the
bottom having dropped their gilded dust shortly before, and the two prepubecents
near the top. At the head of the stalk was a green unopened bud, sealed tight
perpetually by nature and the premature cut. The scent was strong; not
overpowering, but thick & musky, dancing on the palette like the Bolshoi.
I collapsed into her shoulder, overcome emotionally. Grief and gratitude
blended like cream in coffee, filtering together eventually into an indivisible
whole. Sweet saline made acrid with the dissolution of mascara and makeup poured
uncontrollably until I found myself being led away.
Days have passed and the elder blooms have had their day. Even the two
youngest have matured and the silver-grey gangrenous wilt that haunts aging
florae shows it's dread touch on them. But the bud has opened today; spreading
it's arms in it's curvaceous yawn to the misted - over sun. It still holds the
blush of green; so new as to not even have fully shed the shelter of chloroform.
But it stares out unblinking, an unforeseen wonder in a concrete world.
Written by Aquila (aquila@disinfo.net)
En Pointe
The myriad besmirched angels
dancing lightly on your arm
en pointe, ever so weightlessly
trampling you from the wrist upwards
no bones broken;
no internal shrapnel
tearing through to show your wounds
only a fractured windscreen-mind
distorting the dissemination of data & dreams
Written by Aquila (aquila@disinfo.net)
Hold My Hand
Shedding skin like scales as the dread metamorphosis begins
will you take my hand
stay with me as the sirens wail their warning cries?
I am deaf to them, the wax cynical fills the hollows of my ears
the burning spheres in the sky blisters my flesh in its peek-a-boo games from
behind ashen clouds.
No protective cocoon forms to shelter me, no den of safety to flee to;
A public display of disaffection as my own innards ooze out from the cracks in
my calluses in disgust
Running in rivulets from the apathy, which is too tired to chase them.
But will you take my hand, as I'm not entirely certain I should be allowed to
use it, or even if I can.
Yes, take my hand, and hold it until this has passed,
for even this must pass.
Written by Aquila (aquila@disinfo.net)
Hypothermia
"We did not have sex; we made love," he said to me, holding
me close again
and the permanent sheet of ice - inches thick
encasing my ribs for so long
cracks open
red, raw & bleeding from where the shards cut my skin
numb, I close my eyes and stay
unwilling to show my pain,
unable to fully know yours
Written by Aquila (aquila@disinfo.net)
If Only...
If only I knew. If only I'd done that. If only things were different. If only
I could've done more. If only I'd said that. If only I'd been better. If only
I'd been kinder. If only I'd been gentler. If only I were calmer. If only I
weren't as mean. If only I were different. If only he loved me. If only I
loved him. If only I cared more. If only I weren't indifferent. If only I
weren't lazy. If only I weren't complacent. If only I'd stopped them. If only
I'd spoken out. If only I'd fought back. If only I didn't allow it to happen.
If only I were stronger. If only I had more confidence. If only I had more
money. If only I were greedier. If only I weren't so jaded. If only I weren't
so bitter. If only I had fewer regrets. If only I hadn't made so many
mistakes. If only I didn't worry so much. If only I had charm. If only I had
charisma. If only I had a cool car. If only I had less rage. If only I'd
learned more. If only I listened more. If only I weren't in a hurry. If only
I weren't so fucked up. If only I were more coherent. If only I weren't hated.
If only everyone loved me. If only I weren't so chaotic. If only I knew more.
If only my family was different. If only I were better. If only I were
something. If only things had meaning. If only I were smarter. If only I were
thinner. If only I were taller. If only my eyes were blue. If only I were
beautiful. If only I were more than I am. If only I had a life...
How many more "if only" statements can you think of? How many consume you?
Do you obsess over it? How many do you live by? Do you live your lives
questioning every move you make and everything that you do and everything that
you are? Do you want to live in conformity? Do you want to constantly question
whether you measure up to expectations of others, or not? Do you want to worry
and fear everything? Do you want to live in the past and regret everything?
Do you want to dream and wish everything were different? Can you not accept
certain things as they are, get over it, move on, and live with it? Do you see
yourself as being not good enough? Stay away from me then...
Written by Helena3 / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
HERD and TIME
Psychedelic red, seeps from guzzling
ravenous mouths.
Leeches give suck with eyes of contempt.
Tired warriors on 'Nam trip.
Black sun on the rise.
Life-wish mistress lost
HERD drains,
HERD fails the immaculate warrior
Mistaken birth cry
The warriors are lost
Fatigued, air cover, death
HERD bites
The Lions cry forever
The cauldron awaits, deep black vat
My baby's dead or life spent.
I need the serpent
or the butterfly
For no-one can stop the leeches
Help
HERD
Written by El Nino (elnino@disinfo.net)
Im gonna chop my dick off
Holding back
Patsy wedding ring upgrades
And free kiddy colling emotional handbags
Holding back
Holding back my contempt for my passive mass appeal parents
Up a plastic elevator with pine needles from the southern mountain
But im on a new revolutionary diet dig
Out of the sun came a cold child armed with eyes and spline
While the elevator waits next door of my genetic depositions for destruction
And destruction it shall be
And the sun is constantly put on rewind
Forever in the death posture
Like the serpent Kali
I recover from you with aching spleen
Creeping always behind me
Like that hash smoking french guy
Aching for paris and a free uni
My wand vomits hate and special whispers from the sunken ones
Those old bastards owe my hands a fart
Paris paris in woolen black bone batches
I need something to sup during these cold datapocalyptic nights
Like eggs of grapes waiting to be hatched
Im a super super cyborg now
Saluting every idolistic calf
Spin a pentgraph in the face of a roman and his wine sleeps thought he crimes
Cant relate
Everything relates in this hyper real cyber space
Cmon trip
DOM!! Balisst!!
i OMPEDA!!
Let the grammatical libido flow and fuck the data
Real slow like, groc
And the grok giver said "the math is in your head"
chill the spins me and you spinner boy and girl and cyborg cyborg
latter and the former
not the middle
like right angled massages given for a buck and change over there at the junk
yard unit
al right
chillin now word up to the karma cops who keep my sleen clean
ladies too busy organizin
im just flying
organ-izing an d realizing that dreams are are warfare
IAO my sweet jesus;look at magdalene speak!!!
Dreams are mine
Ill psychicly rewind all past confessions
Leaving little time for second guessing
Aye! YEA and verify!
That I am the one with the matrix sunglasses
Do it then
Sold by rayban of course
High class glasses
Cab spit climbing steed, ye maketh me to lie down in ocean
Cha-ching alla ca zammie and a merry christ kiss this
I io
O informa
O informate my cranium ye ol bastard son
Spinner kill the addiction with all impunity
And lysol?
Im so in love its not funny
Can cybernetic transcendence occur these daze
?
lets find out in this ancient new type of intersection kids
triple drop me a line sometime
interstitial foam baroques the runnels
but only if you are a chick of course
while the tunnels soak locked up spirits bleeding them for commodity
lo,l chick but so into someone already
cool and not but fuck it then hugh
I need a new type of syringe to bleed into and splatter on the wall of my mind
My blooooood
Beautiful blue blood
IM SUCH A CATHARSE-hole sometimes
He is so wonderful too
Why that girl of the gun
Just is..everything about him
Bring this web talk in your direction
So sweet
Ok
So real
Sure
Uh huh
Yes im sure
Im listening
Written by El Nino (elnino@disinfo.net)
Propagandize.
I'll give ya the low down...
We're takin' it to the streets.
Puttin' the power back in the hands of the p33ps.
You know what I'm talkin' about?
You know what I'm sayin'?
Now it's time to get serious. Time you all quit playin'.
I'll give ya the straight facts.
So we can bring it all back.
Better act now so we can get on fucking track.
Get your act together.
And quit hittin' that pipe so hard.
Yer mind is all you've got left. Last card.
I'm tellin' ya not to just sit back.
Don't just react.
Get up. Ya gotta go on the attack.
Power to the people. Ya hear me?
Fuck man, don't phear me.
You gotta listen to this. Open yer eyes and see.
This ain't no showdown. I'm givin' you the low down.
Dude don't let em mess you up.
Fuck your mind and make you all soft like a pup.
You gettin' any of this shit?
You ain't down?
Fuck partner... you better step out and split town.
This ain't all that hard to get.
So don't sit there bein' a fuckin punk.
This shit's as easy as seizin' a trunk.
Big Bro will fuck yer mind with propaganda.
He'll hit ya hard with it below the belt in the junk.
So you better prepare or yer ass will be missin' a phat chunk.
You gonna just stand there like a chump?
He's bringin' this shit right in yer face...
Beaming fuckin' Sat messages down all over the place.
It's a disgrace. You gonna take that shit?
You gonna believe the propaganda from space?
Don't just front. Yer already losin' this race.
It's fuckin' you up. Man, if only you knew.
Get off yer fuckin' ass and start doin' somethin' bout it.
Or you already brainwashed by this shit?
It's all goin' down now. Ya dig?
All this shit is gettin' worse man. Final chance.
No more playin'. Run like a punk or dance.
This is the last fuckin' shot.
Brotha it's now or never. You gotta fight or die.
I ain't gonna lie.
Do whatever the fuck ya want.
I can't tell ya what to do. You gotta choose.
I'll say this though... You back up and you lose.
If yer runnin' for back already, you just wait.
Roll over and die. You'll soon be 0wned.
Don't think I havta tell ya. You'll soon be shown.
Bought and sold. Influenced like all hell.
It's do or die time. It's all on the line now.
What? I gotta fuckin' show you what do do and how?
Written by THC Phreak / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
Big Brother Matters.
So close, no matter how far
Couldn't tear much more lives apart
Forever changing who you are
And we're all that matters.
Never exploited your mind this way
Life is ours, you live it our way
Bow down on your knees when I say
And the establishment matters.
Followers I seek and I find in you
Every day for us wealth renewed
Close your minds for a different view
And Big Brother matters.
Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
But we know.
So ours, no matter how far
Couldn't steal much more from your heart
Forever creating who you are
And the NWO matters.
Never cared for what you do | Never cared for what zombies do
Never cared for what you know | Never cared for what zombies know
But we know. | But we know
Never exploited so many minds this way | Never destroyed so many minds this way
Your life is ours, you live it our way | You're ours, you live life our way
All these words we don't just say. | Your only duty is to obey
Zombies I seek and I find in you | Naive minds I seek and I find in you
Every day we control something new | Every day for us abusing you
Close your minds for a different view | Fuck your minds for a different view
And the WTO matters. | And Big Brother matters.
Never cared for what zombies say | Never cared for what slaves say
Never cared for games they play | Never cared how much they pay
Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And we know.
So owned, no matter how far | So fucked, no matter how far
Couldn't take much more from your heart | Couldn't rip much more from your heart
Forever raping who you are | Forever changing who you are
No nothing else matters. | No you don't matter.
Notes: This is a song modelled after Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters".
Obviously, I've modified the lyrics significantly. But that's the style it
has been written in. Music inspires. I've included alternate (alternative?)
lyrics for some of the stanzas and marked them beside. It was written in a
very short amount of time, but I still think it's cool and carries meaning.
Written by Blackie Lawless / Damage, INC. (C)opyright 2000.
CLOSING COMMENTS - {CLOSING}
"Propaganda is the tool of choice for all oppressive regimes, governments,
corporations, organizations, agencies, groups and cults... including the ones
that exist in the red coloured nation of Canada." - BLACKENED
In reality, propaganda surrounds us. We're completely immersed in it and
enveloped by it, everyday. To say that distinguishing between "good" propaganda
and "bad" propaganda can always be done wouldn't just be unrealistic. In many
cases, it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, since the nature and
intention of propaganda is to get a message across without it being overtly
noticeable. At least, that's how it is supposed to work. And so the best type
of propaganda is the stuff you read, and you don't even realize that there's a
hidden motive behind it. It doesn't even take a master propagandist to pull
that off either. All it really requires is an almost innate ability to know how
other people will react to something. Sure, it's a skill. But it's one that can
be developed over time through practice. Public relations, spin, marketing and
advertising firms, it's all being done by them on a daily basis.
The Damage, INC. Newsletter has been described as being controversial,
anarchistic and radical, among other things. People either love it, or they
hate it. And that's great. Indifference isn't what we're after. And,
they have their own reasons for feeling the way they do. We want people to
form their own opinions, instead of merely taking the easy route by agreeing
with and accepting everyone else's. Whether you agree or not isn't the point.
The real point of it all is to make people stop and think. It's about forcing
people to view things from another perspective, open their minds, consider
other ideas, theories, beliefs, ideologies, viewpoints. It is also about
spreading raw information and allowing our readers to disseminate it themselves.
We have faith that our readership is intelligent enough to do that. Rather
than assuming you are all hopeless, pathetic, mindless zombies, we take the
view that if you're reading this zine, you must be an open minded person with
the desire to read something original. In other words, people that aren't
seeking the ordinary, mundane shit and propaganda that's constantly being
proliferated by the mass media. Those are the readers that we seek.
In my humble opinion, this zine has been forever changed for the better. It
still provides truth. It still offers interesting, useful information related
to technology. It still contains the core of what it was built on. And most
of all, it's still put together by a group of people that are dedicated to
educating and informing others. Sure, we've changed. But evolution is a good
thing. It means we aren't stuck in a rut, admiring what we've done in the
past and stagnating. It means we're moving forward instead of looking backward.
It doesn't mean we're going to become careless and neglect to watch our backs
though. Looking over our shoulders is innate. It's as natural an instinct to
us as breathing.
This issue did contain many more creative articles than I expected. And the
change in content wasn't as drastic as I had predicted. However, in the next
issue, there will be many more tech oriented articles included...
Now, more than ever, I believe that we're keeping people honest. Not just our
readers, but the companies that we report on as well. By keeping you honest,
and knowledgeable, they're kept honest in the process by default. So, it does
make a difference. In fact, what we're doing can make a tremendous difference.
Our approach isn't the same as other groups, and the results may not be as
visible and obvious, but they are effective nonetheless. Every revolution
starts with one man, and a single idea. From there it's a matter of how far
people are willing to take it. And we'll take things as far as we can.
Thinking about, and fighting against greed, corruption, oppression, etc. can
sometimes be depressing. It's a daily struggle. It's a time consuming effort.
But any worthwhile cause requires dedication. We'll approach things with the
same energy and vigor as we do with everything else. We won't be denied.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Holiday Endorsements:
"Nothing goes with a can of yams and some eggnog like Damage, Inc. 'zine!"
- G. Ratte'/cDc
"Damage Incorporated - a badass Canadian zine so hardcore that it's banned in
r0y, New Mexico! Imagine that. But that's not all folks. These dudes are so
old sk00l, they make Big Larry look young. Plus, I heard they really pissed off
Carolyn Meinel." - RedBoxChiliPepper (PLA)
"Damage Inc., not only does it have a nasty site.
It has probably the most Raw, Informational, NO bull-shit E-Zine.
Plus if you take the amage from Damage Inc it spells DInc!"
- Phist (SHAO Canada)
"Damage Incorporated and Nettwerked are the best damn phreaking sites in
Canada. Kiss our asses, fuckers!" - The Clone (Nettwerked/Hack Canada)
"Entropy mixed with pure, unfettered madness in text format. What more do
you fucking want?" - Charles Forbin
---
URL: http://surf.to/damage_inc
Email: damage_inc@disinfo.net
- EOF